Despite claims of ‘whitewashing’, Matt Damon remains one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars

Matt Damon – Hollywood’s Mister Nice Guy – is not happy. Famously, it takes a lot to rile the hero of the Jason Bourne movies, a man known for his relaxed attitude and sunny demeanour. Criticism over his latest would-be global blockbuster – director Zhang Yimou’s action adventure epic The Great Wall – has clearly ruffled his feathers.

The criticism is not, however, over the quality of his performance. Instead, the debate centres on whether he should have been included in the cast in the first place. The other stars of the movie, which sees a band of heroes fight to protect medieval China from an army of mythical monsters, are mostly of Chinese origin, including such worthies as Lu Han, Jing Tian, Hong Kong’s Andy Lau and Taiwanese-born Eddy Peng.

In certain quarters, Damon’s presence among them has been blasted as “whitewashing” – the practice of casting white actors in Asian roles. In the past, such transgressions have included Yul Brynner playing the Thai ruler Mongkut in The King And I, Mickey Rooney as a Japanese landlord in Breakfast At Tiffany’s and John Wayne’s take on Genghis Khan.

Among those commenting adversely on this latest example is Chinese-American actress Constance Wu. Inevitably taking to social media, she said: “We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that only a white man can save the world. Our heroes don’t all look like Matt Damon.”

Damon claims the cast was “wounded” by the accusation and says that the charge is inaccurate. Although the film is set in China, he claims he was playing a character who clearly wasn’t supposed to be Chinese. He also points out that the film is a fantasy story, saying: “Look, if people see this movie and feel like there’s whitewashing involved in a creature feature that we made up, I will listen to that with my whole heart. I will think about that and I will try to learn from that.

“I will be surprised, though, if people see this movie and actually have that reaction. In fact, I will be genuinely shocked. As a progressive person, it’s a perspective I really do agree with. I try to listen and try to be sensitive. Ultimately, though, I feel you are undermining your own credibility when you attack something without seeing it.”

Damon’s rather bruised response to the row may reflect his lack of experience in dealing with controversy. Unlike many movie stars, he has demonstrated an enviable ability to steer clear of trouble throughout what has been a long and distinguished career.

It’s been some 20 years since he and Ben Affleck, his lifelong best friend and high school companion, burst on to the Hollywood scene in Good Will Hunting, an Oscar-winning classic. The two young actors not only played the main characters in this tale of a young maths prodigy, but they also wrote the screenplay.

Since then, he’s appeared in some 60 movies, including such critically acclaimed outings as Saving Private Ryan, Invictus and, more recently, The Martian. Indeed, the last two saw his performance nominated for an Academy Award.
Despite his more serious works, though, he is still probably best known for his portrayal of troubled tough guy Jason Bourne in a series of action films. In all, he’s starred in four – The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum and Jason Bourne, last year’s reprise of the franchise.

Bourne is a more complex figure than those typically found in action movies. When we first meet him, he’s a former CIA assassin suffering from amnesia, who is trying to trace his real identity while evading his erstwhile employers, who are now only too keen to eliminate him.

While the franchise has inevitably been compared to James Bond, Damon regards that as misleading. He says: “Bourne is much more relatable. Think about it. Bond is from the 60s, so he has the values of that time. He’s a misogynist and an imperialist. He swills martinis, kills people and cracks jokes about it.

“It’s so anachronistic that a whole comedy franchise – Austin Powers – grew up around the concept. At its heart, it asked if we wake up as a guy with those values, how ridiculous would we look in our world?

“Jason Bourne, though, is thoroughly modern. He’s an anti-establishment figure who doesn’t trust institutions. He’s a serial monogamist who’s only really loved one woman. Once she’s gone, he does nothing but think about her. And he always feels guilty for everything he’s done.”

The Bourne films, a hit with critics and audiences alike, turned Damon into a megastar. Indeed one publication calculated that, in terms of money earned at the box office, he is Hollywood’s most bankable performer.

These days, he is only too aware of just how indebted he is to Bourne, saying: “It’s incalculable how much these movies have helped my career. Suddenly it put me on a shortlist of people who could get movies made. Now, directors call me and that’s the best part of it.

“This has meant that I have been able to do films that had wonderful scripts but, on the face of it, were not going to be box office successes. I had the luxury of jumping into them because I knew I would later have another chance to play Bourne.”
Last year, nearly a decade after publicly declaring that he was finished with the role – memorably saying, after the release of The Bourne Ultimatum, “We have ridden that horse as far as we can” – he returned as an older, but no less troubled Bourne. While his memory was now restored, his relationship with the CIA was as fraught as ever.

This time around, preparing for the part was trickier. Recalling the rigour required, he says: “I trained a lot more than I ever had done before, largely because [director] Paul Greengrass really wanted me to be physically fit and lean.

“He said when we see Bourne in the first frame of the movie, if we look at his face and he seems like he’s lived well over the past 10 years, then we don’t have a movie. He told me I had to look like I’d suffered. And the only way to do that was to suffer.”

So suffer he did, enduring two high-intensity gym sessions every day for 10 weeks prior to filming. He also stuck to a strict diet of vegetables and protein for months on end.

He doesn’t appear to regret it, though, saying: “It was great to just slip into that old skin and be on set again. Doing another Bourne movie was exciting.”

This time, though, is it really the end? Typically cautious, he says: “The worst time to ask that question is right after we’ve just made one. My guess is it will be a while before we’ll even get around to talking about doing another one. They might have to reboot me before I bow out.”

Not that he doesn’t have enough to keep him occupied in the meantime. The Great Wall is just one of the projects he’s been involved with over the last 12 months. Downsizing, a quirky science fiction comedy, comes out later this year, as does Suburbicon, a dark crime drama courtesy of the Coen brothers. A little further down the line, filming has just begun on Ocean’s Eight, a movie that will see Damon reprise his role from the Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 bank heist trilogy.

He’s also followed Ben Affleck into the director’s chair and has produced his first feature film – Manchester By The Sea. A New England based drama, it was released to widespread critical approval last year.

Explaining his recent whirlwind of activity, Damon says: “I got greedy. I hadn’t worked for a year and a half, and then I had the opportunity to work with Ridley Scott [director of The Martian], Zhang Yimou, Paul Greengrass and [Downsizing director] Alexander Payne. I just couldn’t say no.”

Given the whitewashing controversy, whether or not he should have said yes to appearing in The Great Wall remains something of a moot point. The criticism he’s received, however, seems to stem mostly from his homeland and not from China, where audiences largely seem bemused by the row.

And, rather than baulking at Damon’s involvement, Zhang suggests the film’s critics should take pride in just what the movie has achieved. He says: “For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made for a world audience. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry.”

Fine sentiments indeed. It can be nothing but good news that China’s cinematic talents are being displayed on an international stage. If Damon’s presence in The Great Wall actually encourages American audiences to appreciate them, there will surely be very few left complaining.

Shangri-La Estate provides a unique taste of Africa

The adventure began on a short flight between Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro, aboard an old-fashioned DC, with its twin props evoking nostalgia for a simpler time and an urge to read the safety instructions with unusual thoroughness. Touching down in Tanzania, its arid landscape and high-rise free horizon are the most immediate testimonies to the country’s otherworldly charms.

Set predominantly in Eastern Africa, although with parts of this large country also stretching into Southern Africa, Tanzania is bordered on the north by Kenya and Uganda, with the Congo to the west, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south and the Indian Ocean to the east. Its claim to be the very heart of Africa is hard to dispute.

From Kilimanjaro airport, the drive westwards sees us head to Karatu, our ultimate destination. Not highly regarded for its investment in infrastructure, the region’s roads are far from easy on any vehicle’s suspension. Either side there are vast expanses of open plains, with the land so arid dust devils are our constant travelling companions, rising skywards as if the earth itself was trying to escape the dry, dusty conditions.

As we pass, small herds of cattle nod in our direction, ever hopeful that one of their clearly rare feeds is on the cards. Only slightly better fed, the Maasai shepherds steer their charges from water source to water source, something of a navigational feat in a country with an average annual rainfall of just 1,148mm.

Heading into the highlands, a gradual change appears in the scenery. For the first time, greenery appears on the horizon. By the time the end of our journey approaches, the desert plains have given way to trees and forested bush land. Our ultimate destination – a secluded coffee farm – lies in Karatu, bordering Mount Ngorongoro and its famous crater.

The farm, the Shangri-La Estate, was established in 1920 and sprawls across some 1,200 acres. This unlikely setting is home to the Ngoro Ngoro Mountain blend, one of Tanzania’s – if not the world’s – finest coffees.

The farm has been owned and operated by Christian Jebsen – a member of the same family that founded Jebsen and Co, the Hong Kong-based marketing and distribution company – since 1992. Today, the farm boasts an impressive 400,000 coffee trees, as well as 50 acres devoted to avocados, five acres to wine (a relatively new venture), 90 acres of grassland and a further 575 acres reserved for forest and game corridors.

The farm employs 40 full-time employees, taking on an additional 150 casual workers on a seasonal basis, swelling to a further 250 coffee pickers during the prime picking season. The farm nursery has 25,000 seedlings ready as replacement plants, with cuttings of almost every imaginable type of coffee plant at hand, although Bourbon and Blue Mountain coffee beans are the staple here.

Touring the farm, it quickly becomes clear just how much work and time goes into producing coffee. From tree to satisfying cup, each bean will have passed through five sets of hands before even being roasted.

Of course as a working coffee farm, all of the Shangri-La’s guests are invited to try their hand at roasting their own coffee, something that can be enjoyed after a long day learning the intricacies involved with creating the perfect blend. Few will leave the establishment without gaining a new respect for this esoteric process and a renewed love for the perfectly cultivated bean.

With the farm occupying land that would otherwise be a wild and natural habitat, every effort has been made to maintain harmony with the surrounding natural world, an endeavour that has seen the estate gain the endorsement of the Rainforest Alliance. The farm also plays a key economic role in the life of the surrounding towns, providing jobs for many of the local women, with a female-only pickers’ camp allowing many of the region’s ladies to have a degree of financial independence from their husbands – something of a rarity in many traditional African societies.

The Shangri-La has also built its own kindergarten, ensuring that mothers can stay employed even when there are young children to factor in. It also supports the nearby Mlimani Smawe Secondary School by providing materials, books and even volunteer teachers in the form of altruistic European students who are keen to give a little back to the wider world.

Visitors holidaying on the estate are offered a choice of accommodation. The most luxurious option, the Guest House (or Samaki Tatu, meaning “three fish” in Swahili) is a newly built residence, complete with five double rooms, all provided with en-suite facilities and the kind of ultra-modern conveniences you might reasonably expect to find in a five-star hotel. Complete with a swimming pool, service staff and a chef, staying at Samaki Tatu is certainly one of the most comfortable ways to see Africa.

Virtually wholly self-sustainable, all of the food served is from the farm itself, all provided by its 10 cows, a dairy and a cheesery. There are also 30 head of cattle, the same number of pigs and a two-acre vegetable garden.
As you relax by the pool, the well will, in all likelihood, be visited by a number of its regular patrons, be it a herd of elephants, a baboon troop, a few stray deer and even the occasional lion or leopard. Separated by only a rudimentary stone wall, it is nigh on impossible to imagine a more immersive stay in truly natural Africa. The spectacle of these majestic beasts as they loom out of the forest to visit the well at dusk is truly a sight to behold. In fact, it’s well worth the journey alone.

Of course this being Africa, while a tour of the farm is all well and fine, your stay would not be complete without a good old-fashioned safari. Luckily, the farm is surrounded by national park land – the Serengeti, the Manyara National Park, the Tangire National Park and the Ngorongoro crater. The farm offers various packages that offer a range of safaris, including a two-day excursion to the Serengeti National Park.

Whichever national park you opt to explore, you are guaranteed a truly African adventure, complete with free-roaming zebra herds, wildebeests by the hundred, scampering baboons, the grandeur that is the African elephant, giraffes, bathing hippos, lions and literally hundreds of different species of birds.

One of the more impressive safaris, though, has to be the journey around (and within) the Ngorogoro crater. One of the greatest natural spectacles in the world, the crater is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and has also been deemed to be the eighth wonder of the world.

From the comfort of the farm to the adventure of the African safari, a trip to Tanzania and the Shangri-La Coffee Farm offers all the comforts of luxury travel with the unforgettable sights and experiences you can only find in Africa. Of course, this is just one of the many adventures to be had on the world’s most beguiling, compelling and mysterious continent. But, then, no one said you could only go once.

Christie’s celebrates its 250th anniversary

When the French Revolution erupted, the influx of French aristocrats – and fine artwork – into London cemented the city’s reputation as the world’s art trading capital. In 1766, it was against this very backdrop that Christie’s established itself as the foremost purveyor of relics, masterpieces and luxury goods.

It would be wrong to say it was the world’s first auction house – that honour goes to the Stockholm Auction House, the Swedish business that pioneered the idea in 1674. In fact, even Sotheby’s preceded Christie’s by some 20 years. It was Christie’s, though, that went on to become the world’s largest auctioneer, with its name almost synonymous with the practice of luxury goods going under the hammer.

The company recently celebrated its 250th anniversary, while this month marks 30 years since it first opened in Hong Kong. This made it the first city in Asia to hold auctions on a regular basis, although there had been a few sporadic sales in Tokyo in the 1960s.

Today, Christie’s hosts around 350 auctions a year, with the company having a presence in 46 countries and dedicated sales rooms in 11 cities. Its sales straddle 80 diverse categories, including classic armour, fine wines, designer handbags and rare musical instruments.

Christie’s has built upon a long tradition of auctioning – one that was not always notably noble. The word “auction” actually stems from the Latin term “auctus,” meaning “increasing.” It refers to a practice in classic times whereby a potential wife was handed over to the highest bidder.

In Rome, around 1 AD, auctions became a popular means of disposing of family estates and selling off war plunder. One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in 193 AD, when the rebellious Praetorian Guard put the entire Roman Empire on the auction block, briefly precipitating a civil war.

By the 18th century, auctions in England were typically held in taverns and coffeehouses, perhaps in the hope that a little liquid inspiration would inspire bidders to empty their wallets. At the time, James Christie, the eponymous founder of Christie’s, was just 20 years old and working as an auctioneer’s assistant in London. Not known as a connoisseur of the arts, he later relied on a team of advisers when it came to stocking the showroom.
In subsequent years, the business he founded became famous for – among other things – selling the personal effects of the rich and famous. At one time or another, the chattels of Princess Diana, Coco Chanel, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and Margaret Thatcher all went under its famous hammer.

In one of its more bizarre auctions, Christie’s found a buyer for the nightcap worn by King Charles I on the eve of his 1649 execution for treason. According to The Book of Royal Useless Information, the king put on his nightcap before asking the executioner, “Does my hair trouble you?” Following a yes, the man with the axe helped the king tuck his hair into his cap, before delivering his own terminal trim.

If celebrity clothing is coveted, haute joaillerie is even more in demand. In 2011, a posthumous sale of the jewellery of Elizabeth Taylor – the US actress once regarded as the world’s most beautiful woman – proved to be the most valuable private collection of jewels ever to come up for auction. The star of the collection was a necklace adorned with La Peregrina, a rare 16th-century pearl once part of the Spanish crown jewels.

“Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe and Margaret Thatcher all went under the Christie’s gavel”

One of Taylor’s seven husbands, the legendary actor and carouser Richard Burton (whom she married twice), purchased the pearl at auction in 1969. Designed by Taylor in collaboration with Cartier, the two-strand necklace also boasts 56 natural pearls and four cultured pearls, as well as an array of diamonds and rubies.

The auction was seen by a record number of people. Buyers placed their bids in person, over the phone and online – the first auction ever held on the Christie’s website. In total, some 24 of the 80 jewels on offer fetched more than US$1 million (HK$7.8 million), with six jewels going for more than $5 million.

In the process, the sale established seven new world records, including the highest price paid for a pearl jewel and the most paid per carat for a colourless diamond at auction.

In another dazzling spectacle, Christie’s was also charged with auctioning the famed Agra diamond – a bulky pink gemstone worn by a Mughal emperor in the 16th century. Sold for $6.95 million, it was bought by Hong Kong-based Siba Rare Jewels, with the company proceeding to shock experts by announcing plans to recut the diamond, reducing its weight from 32 to 28 carats in order to give it a more contemporary look.

Props from famous films have also proven hugely popular at auction. A pair of ruby slippers – as worn by Dorothy (Judy Garland) in The Wizard of Oz – was auctioned off for US$165,000 in 1988. A fairly hefty sum, especially considering they didn’t contain any real rubies, with 2,300 red sequins delivering the required look. In 2000, the shoes were again sold by Christie’s, this time going for a devilish $666,000.

With all its luxury cars, cool gadgets and stylish suits, it is perhaps unsurprising that the James Bond film franchise has spawned a number of high-profile auctions over the years. An Aston Martin DB5 – driven by both Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye (1995) and Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964) – sold for £157,750 (HK$1.5 million), while the Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace (2008) went for £241,250.

While movie memorabilia stirs up considerable fanfare, it’s famous works of art that truly steal the show in terms of legacy and price tag. Among the most celebrated to have passed through Christie’s doors are Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli, Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple by El Greco and Figures dans un Café (L’Absinthe) by Edgar Degas.

In 1987, Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers famously became the most expensive painting ever sold when it went for £24 million. That record only lasted three years, however, before it was smashed by the £49.1 million sale of Portrait of Dr Gachet, another work by Van Gogh. Ironically, success came far too late for this notoriously tortured artist who sold only one painting during the course of his lifetime.

Christie’s Hong Kong saleroom has also fared well in the art arena, particularly with regard to traditional Chinese artworks. At its anniversary auction last year, a rare blue and white dragon jar from the Ming Dynasty sold for more than US$20 million, while the sale of a 600-year-old Tibetan thangka set a record in 2014 for the most expensive Chinese artwork ever sold – $45 million.

All in all, the Hong Kong branch has come a long way since its first auction of Chinese paintings and jadeite jewellery back in 1986. It started with just 200 lots and generated around $2 million. In 2015, it had 8,000 lots and generated nearly $800 million. Following London and New York, Hong Kong is now Christie’s third most important sales site in terms of revenue – even beating Paris.

With 30 percent of its sales revenue coming from Asian buyers, it looks like the future of Europe’s most venerable auctioneers is very much tied up with its Far Eastern outposts. Some 250 years on, with the hammer going down on ever higher price tags, it could be a very long time indeed before Christie’s is going…going…gone.

12 months, 12 star signs, one inescapable destiny

The year just gone was full of surprises and uncertainty…Trump… Brexit… volatility in the financial markets. Over the last 12 months, many have certainly been caught off guard, regardless of their star sign or astral awareness. Will 2017 be more of the same, another year where the apparently impossible comes to pass? Or can we expect a little sanity to reassert itself? Well, that all depends. It’s all down to how the planets align, for you. And that’s down to the month, the day and even the hour of your birth. Arm yourself with our annual insight as to just what the New Year has in store for you and yours…

Aries
March 21 – April 19
As with the year just gone, a few surprises will likely be in store for you again in the year to come. Your ascendant planet is Uranus, a planet that both shocks and stimulates, while also awakening long-dormant desires. How you will fare will depend on how emotionally prepared you are for this astral onslaught.

On the plus side, it’s a good year for travel, especially when business related, but beware of high expenses in March. For those hoping for wedding bells, September onwards augurs well for nuptial prospects.

As a fire sign, this year it’s crucial for Arians to temper their impetuous natures. While it can be quite liberating to tell others exactly how you feel, that sudden rush of emotions could leave you feeling regretful. You will need to learn how to channel your feelings constructively without hurting those close to you – be it at home or in the workplace – or else you run the risk of losing friends and gaining enemies.

Tip: The devil is in the detail. Being organised this year will pay off for you hugely.

Taurus
April 20 – May 20
This is a good year for new career avenues to open up but the opportunities will take care of themselves. A proactive approach is needed to make the most of your chances. Embrace workplace challenges wholeheartedly and you will reap the benefits. You could receive an unexpected windfall around the middle of the year.

Relationships could be less straightforward this year. Friendships could become tangled and will require all your level-headedness and patience to limit the damage of misunderstandings. Your creative spark will ignite in the second half of the year, making it the ideal time to act on artistic or business ideas.

Those born in early to mid-May may experience a spiritual awakening around February or March. It is also the time for single Tauruns to pursue that love interest you have been so coy about.

Tip: Seize your opportunities, this is not the year to be resting on your laurels.

Gemini
May 21 – June 20
A true air sign, you enjoy making intellectual connections with others and opportunities to do so abound, especially in the first half of the year. While at times your dualistic nature may have your new acquaintances confused as to your true character, your pervasive charm will win them over.

This is also an important year for you when it comes to keeping an eye on your health. Cut down on sweet or fatty foods and ensure you don’t overdo it with the alcohol.

The period between April and May could prove tricky for you, with an ego clash or a potential run-in with a rival looking likely to undermine your plans. Exercising persistence will deliver financial rewards in the second half of the year, while this is also a very well-starred period for those Geminis considering starting a family.

Tip: For those Geminis looking for romance, while flirting is fun, be careful you don’t miss someone with real long-term potential.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22
Planetary alignments this year indicate that you can expect hurdles on both the work and domestic fronts. As someone to whom home is particularly important – even if you don’t always admit it – ignore these problems at your peril.

As the year progresses there will be an upward surge in your fortunes. A change in residence could be on the cards, with the possibility of the purchase of a new apartment, and possibly that new car you’ve been promising yourself.

It is likely 2017 will also be a year of change and frenetic activity. Be prepared to tackle this head-on or accept the likelihood of being overwhelmed. Around October or November someone from your past could re-enter your life and take it in a wholly unexpected direction.

Tip: Brace yourself for potential change and for an unusually active and dynamic year.

Leo
July 23 – Aug 22
Your big-hearted nature and leadership skills come to the fore this year, with many of those around you impressed by your role as a stabilising influence. The year, though, will prove to be something of a roller-coaster for you personally, so it’s essential to focus on where you want to be come 2018.

Overall, though, the next 12 months will shape up as a financially positive one for you and should see your stocks rise throughout the first half of the year. Watch out, though, for unexpected expenses around July or August. Resist the urge to splurge despite one or two unexpected gains.

You may also experience a letdown on the home front and, for Leo parents, a child could disappoint too.

Tip: Don’t get too immersed in the needs of others.

Virgo
Aug 23 – Sept 22
Your year will get off to a slow start, but will build up a head of steam as it progresses. The first half of the year could prove quite demanding. Marriage and domestic issues are likely to test your patience, but things should start to pick up on the home front by early June.

Pay attention to your financial situation this year as it may not be all that you hoped for, so don’t fritter away your hard-earned gains on unnecessary frivolities. With Jupiter ascending in the second half of the year, luck will be on your side and this could be time to reward yourself. Possibly that long promised trip to visit a faraway friend? The second half of the year is the best time to pursue business interests and to capitalise on your good fortune.

For single Virgos, love may suddenly start to bloom in mid-May.

Tip: Preserve your energy for demanding times in the second half of the year.

Libra
Sept 23 – Oct 22
This year will kick off with something of a bang for you, with your renewed energy and optimism giving you the ability to take massive strides toward your goals. You are seeing things with unusual clarity, making this the ideal time to speak your mind and assert your financial rights or just to take that time off you’ve been promising yourself.

On the down side, with the undue prominence of Neptune this year, you may be feeling under the weather in May or June with an elusive ailment, one not easily detected by your medical practitioner. Adopting a holistic approach to your health and taking a step back from your hectic schedule will help remedy this.

This is also a good year to finally say goodbye to a role or individual that has been holding you back for some time. You may also have unexpected luck when taking a gamble in November.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to take a risk when the chance arises.

Scorpio
Oct 23 – Nov 21
Scorpios should have faith in their own talents this year. This is the time to take on any challenge you have been shying away from, possibly because you felt insufficiently qualified or gifted. Take heart, though. The results may astound you.

For single Scorpios, love is definitely in the air. Don’t be afraid to make the first move on that one special person you’ve had your eye on for a very long time. Travel to a far-off land is likely around July or August, so ensure your documentation is up to date.

Beware, though, this year could also have a sting in its tail, with an unexpected financial burden rearing its head around November or early December. Set aside a little something for this impending rainy day.

Tip: Muster the courage to face your challenges head on.

Sagittarius
Nov 22 – Dec 21
Saturn is your dominant planet this year and, while it’s often seen as a malign influence, it may signal an opportunity to overcome a particular challenge that has long eluded you. The more you put into this year, the better placed you will be to reap the rewards of an upturn in your fortune from September onwards after your prospects begin to level out.

Work pressure will be high at the start of the year, so teamwork is crucial to weathering the storm. Use your considerable diplomatic skills to get colleagues on your side.

When it comes to romance, expect the unexpected. Don’t get yourself in trouble by settling for something you know is flawed. Instead, enjoy all the attention that comes your way, while awaiting that special person
to emerge.

Tip: The more you put into this year, the more you will get out of it.

Capricorn
Dec 22 – Jan 19
The period between April and August will sorely test your inner fortitude. In the workplace, mentally note those who help – and those who hinder – during this trying time. It is likely someone important to you will let you down, but don’t let your frustration show and resist the temptation of immediate payback. Their time will come.

On the bright side, you will have frequent opportunities to travel and explore new horizons. A business prospect may open up unexpectedly in February. Around October, a surprising new love interest may appear in your life, livening things up considerably.

You may be called to take care of an ailing loved one in the middle part of the year, but your charity here will be well rewarded in the long run.

Tip: Persevere through the tough times and keep focused on what’s truly important.

Aquarius
Jan 20 – Feb 18
The water carrier is going to be burdened by a high degree of responsibility this year, but don’t despair as this will prove to be a true learning experience and, ultimately, a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Time off around April will help you recharge your batteries after a demanding start to the year, with things suddenly getting a whole lot easier around mid-year.

You will feel like money is slipping through your fingers in November, with a number of bills seemingly coming at the same time. This short-term hit to your finances will pass. And quickly.

Overall, this is going to be an eventful year for you, on both the work and home front. A change of residence may be on the cards and, for married Aquarians, there is the real chance of an addition to the family.

Tip: Keep on your toes and deal with every task as it arises.

Pisces
Feb 19 – March 20
Your year will get off to a bright start, largely on account of a surge in your creative energies. January through March is the time to consider new projects or to reassess key relationships. You will feel on a roll through the first half of the year, so ensure you make the most of any luck that comes your way.

Towards the end of the year, your altruistic tendencies will be tested by an unexpected betrayal by someone close to you. Seek to ascertain their deeper motives and you may see things more clearly.

Your love life is also in for significant change. Marriage prospects are likely to quicken and new relationships can fall quickly into place. A short trip around July may reap unexpected benefits.

Tip: Take things as they come and ignore the negativity of others.

Monkey seeings, monkey doings in Hong Kong’s year gone by

Congratulations world, we’ve reached 2017. There were, to be fair, a number of times of late when it didn’t seem like we’d make it. If 1848 was The Year of Revolution and 1963 was The Year Sex was Invented, how will future generations look back on 2016? The year when voters around the world finally proved that democracy doesn’t work? The year when all the talented musicians died?

To be fair, Hong Kong has had its own share of political drama. At one time or another, it felt like hardly anybody was happy about The Way Things Were or, indeed, about The Way Things Were Likely To Be in The Future. Thinking back, though, pretty much the same sentiments dominated both 2015 and 2014. It could be, then, that 2017 will be The Year That Was Pretty Much Like The Previous Three Only More So. We shall just have to see, won’t we?

The chances are, however, that the number of celebrity deaths, at least, will decline in 2017 – largely on the grounds that there aren’t that many left. Beginning with David Bowie’s departure back in January, a steady parade of celebrities shuffled off their respective mortal coils, providing a somewhat sombre backdrop to the year. Even Hong Kong was not immune with the jewellery tycoon – and founder of the Chow Tai Fook Group – Cheng Yu-tung passing away and proving to be the city’s highest profile casualty.

For the SAR, overall though, the year began with a bang. And a crash. The bangs came courtesy of the traditional firework display over Victoria Harbour, while the crash was the one that shook the city’s stock market, which fell by three and a half percent on the first day of trading. Thus the tone for 2016 was set, with the cause apparently a larger drop – seven percent – in the Shanghai stock exchange. This would not be the only occasion when Hong Kong was shaken by mainland developments.

There were more bangs and crashes on the first day of the Chinese New Year, when a disagreement over fish balls turned nasty in Mong Kok. If any place in the world were to be the setting for a street food contretemps, it would most likely be Hong Kong.

The incident – triggered over a disagreement relating to the legal status of hawkers – resulted in the worst street violence seen in Hong Kong since the 1960s, at least according to The Economist.

Some 50 arrests and a near hundred injuries later, things quietened down, but the underlying anger seemed to simmer throughout the rest of the year.

Indeed, an HKU poll published in March found that confidence in the future of the city was at its lowest since April 2003. A further poll, carried out later in the year by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, found that 40 percent of all Hong Kong residents wanted to leave the city, a number that rose to 57 percent in the case of 18-to-30-year-olds. As a result, it wasn’t surprising that politics was on the agenda, though for Hong Kong book publishers hoping for freedom of travel across the mainland, it was probably best left off the agenda all together.

Prudent caution about senior mainlanders aside, discussion of Hong Kong’s own first family was, by comparison, all but compulsory. In April there was the airport incident involving Leung Chung-yan, which saw the chief exec’s daughter allegedly get Daddy to order airport staff to fetch her carry-on luggage from the wrong side of security.

Later in the same month, Regina Leung, the chief exec’s wife, also raised eyebrows when she seemingly instructed Hong Kongers to start growing their own vegetables. The understandable response from many angry residents was that their Mong Kok tower block was not overly blessed with surplus vegetable plots. Funny that.

While CY Leung’s family proved to be the city’s favourite soap opera, the way in which Hong Kong residents followed more traditional fare also changed in 2016, most notably on April 1 when ATV went off the air. With its glory days long gone, few mourned the channel’s ultimate demise.

After a short but respectful gap, a new channel – ViuTV – took to the airwaves, winning viewers over with its hearty selection of Korean dramas, a sign perhaps of the changing of the cultural guard across Asia. Despite that, all has not gone entirely well for the new station, which found itself embroiled in the murky topic of independence. Murkier still, one late night talk show attracted several complaints after guests ate food from one another’s armpits.

Housing was another theme running throughout 2016, pretty much as it has been in Hong Kong since time immemorial. More grist to the mill came in June, though, when Chen Hongtian, a Shenzhen tycoon, bought a house on the Peak for a record HK$2.1 billion. This saw a whinge of journalists try to uncover any interesting details at all about the previously little known businessman. Indeed, he became such a topic of discussion that, when his company bought an unexceptional office block in Kowloon for an unexceptional price, the SCMP headlined the tale as: “The buyer of Hong Kong’s most expensive home strikes again.”

Records were also broken last year in the meteorological arena, with the mean temperatures in July and October proving to be the highest since records began back in 1884. June set a different kind of record when it proved to be the month with the most consecutive days of temperatures in excess of 35 degrees ever. Clearly not wanting to be left out, the period September to November weighed in with 1,078.8mm of rain, taking the record for the highest amount of rainfall ever recorded in autumn. While it didn’t all fall during the Clockenflap outdoor music festival, for many participants, it might as well have.

Other events to fall foul of the weather included Hong Kong’s inaugural marquee cricketing tournament – the 2020 Blitz. Although it triumphed in bringing Michael Clarke, the former Australian captain, to the territory back in May, the fact that he spent much of his visit in the changing room was a disappointment to many.

Staying in the sporting arena, 38 athletes travelled from Hong Kong to Rio for the Olympics. Commenting on their success, Hong Kong’s chef de mission, Kenneth Fok, urged Hong Kongers to avoid regarding Olympic medals as the be-all and end-all of sporting achievement. A cynic might suggest that he would have said something different had Hong Kong not finished joint bottom of the table, with a grand total of zero medals.

So, with sport clearly not providing a great deal of positivity, Hong Kongers found themselves obliged to look further afield. Unfortunately, travel proved a particularly expensive affair in the latter part of the year when Cathay Pacific got its sums horribly wrong. Due to the company’s finance department betting the wrong way on oil prices, from mid-September onwards all passengers on Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air had to pay an additional HK$109 fuel surcharge.

If that didn’t deter people from visiting Asia’s world city, then the international coverage of the Rurik Jutting murder trial probably dissuaded any waverers from making the trip. Back in November, the sensational headlines relating to the case gave the distinct impression that Wan Chai was home to legions of coked-up bankers and Filipino good time girls who charged by the hour. Sometimes it’s hard to recognise our beloved city from the overseas press it gets.

While the number of scandals Hong Kong is home to are surely proof of some kind of vibrancy within the SAR’s boundaries, they are probably not laying quite the right groundwork for a city that is clearly at some kind of crossroads.

Indeed, many of the events of 2016 seem little more than distractions, incidental details that divert attention from the fact this particular East/West melting pot is still casting around for its future role on the world stage. Will 2017 see a clearer path emerging? Will Rurik Jutting be heading home for Christmas next year? The answer to both questions may well be an equally resounding no – but only time will tell the outcome.

A Christmas story: Once in Royal No-one’s City

I’d kind of assumed that December 24th would be an all-booked-up kind-of-a-night at the Wan Chai Travel Inn and Grill. Clearly trained to spot a raised eyebrow at several paces, the Travel Inn Keeper had an explanation at the ready.

“Couple of years back, sir,” he said, “we’d have been packed to the rafters we would. You’d have been lucky to have bedded down with a horny pig in a New Territories outhouse. I say, a horny pig in a New Territories outhouse….”

Clearly delighted with his own turn of phrase, a third iteration was only prevented by a sneeze immediately behind me. Unnoticed by either of us, a veritable mini-queue of feckless festive wanderers had formed, headed by a stunningly beautiful K-popstress – one that I vaguely recognised from a series of thigh-flashing posters that had enlivened my walk to the MTR platform no end for the last week or more.

Behind the clearly cosmetically-enhanced Korean cutie stood three itinerant individuals who were notably less easy on the eye. The first, bizarrely clad in a blue duffel coat – a striking contrast to his bright red nose – had been the source of the explosive sniffle that had thankfully stopped mein host mid-flow.

“A few years back, you’d be lucky to have bedded down with a horny pig in a New Territories outhouse”

The figure behind him was, if anything, strikingly unstriking, a fusty financial services type straight from central casting, all pin-stripes, leather luggage and almost entirely bonhomie-free. He seemed an odd match to his blue duffel-coated companion and an odder match still with the third of the party – all superannuated and leather-clad, a man who had clearly brooked no wardrobe upgrade since 1995 at the very latest.

Clearly concerned that none should overlook his retro proclivities, he was clutching an album from the days of Way Back When, one graced by an image of two racing dogs. A lesser connoisseur than my good self might have failed to recognise the recent vinyl re-issue of 1994’s Park Life, a seminal re-release from the long-ago days of Britpop.

“Blimey,” said the Innkeeper, addressing his array of would-be bed and boarders, “it looks like Christmas has come marginally early for all of us. A couple of years ago, you’d all have been lucky to have bedded down…”
“With a horny pig in a New Territories outhouse?” I ventured.

“Well, sir, such language in front of a lady. I was going to say in the Causeway Bay Travel Inn and Charcuturie run by my brother-in-law. Why the very thought…”

A tad non-plussed by such verbal chicanery, I stood aside as our host for the night checked in his most unexpected guests.

“Modam,” he said, addressing the unimpressed looking K-popper, “I’ve put you in 669, one of our very best rooms. Pizza-Box – blame a mischievous Australian TEFL teacher for his nomenclature, modam – will take you up…”
Pizza-Box, a young, uniformed bell-boy, a veteran of no more than 17 summers, sprang from behind the check-in desk, managing to both salute and grab several of the sultry singing star’s hat boxes as he did. Strewing luggage about his person as he went, he scampered off liftwards, with the sexy Seoul singer losing much of her aloofness as she strove to keep up.

“Now, you gentlemen,” said the clearly intrigued innkeeper querulously, “a family room, was it? I’ll put you in 668, one of our very best rooms. Unfortunately, as Pizza-Box is…eh…you’ll have to….”

“Don’t worry,” said Blue Duffelcoat, nudging his financial chum mid-rib, “we’ll just follow yonder star…”

Amid a series of variously muffled giggles and several barely restrained sneezes, the unlikely trio headed off down the corridor, scurrying to keep up with the amusingly-named bellboy and his chanteuse charge.

“And you sir,” said the manager, belatedly returning his attention to me, “Mr Shepherd, wasn’t it? I’m going to put you in room 667. It’s one of our….”

“Very best rooms?” I proffered helpfully.

“No sir, regrettably not. It’s one of our worst. It looks like an on-heat hog had an all-night porkathon under your valance, quite frankly….
****
Room 667, thankfully, did not seem quite the recent scene of saucy sow shenanigans that the hotel’s proprietor had, well, more than implied. This may have been, however, more to do with an ambience unlikely to inspire amatory antics among even the most bawdy-minded of boars rather than any restorative room service on the part of the management.

With décor best described as German porn chic circa 1972 – a style of interior universally acknowledged as wholly anti-copulatory – the dividing walls were thinner than an anorexic’s Happy Meal scrapbook, ensuring nary a sigh of the next-door residents could ever be missed. And Christmas Eving overnight in the Wanchai Travel Inn and Grill would bring out the sigh in the sunniest of folk.

It wasn’t a sigh that caught my attention, however, so much as a long-drawn out sniffle and the distinctive sound of an ill-matched trio failing to move stealthily, no matter what their intent. I gently prised open my woodchip door and peered into the corridor.

“Christmas Eving overnight in the Wanchai Travel Inn and Grill would bring out the sigh in the sunniest of folk”

To the left, the theatrically unlikely threesome of Blue Dufflecoat, Financial Know-How and Britpop Vinyl were slinking down the hallway in exactly the fashion you shouldn’t if you didn’t want anyone to hear, each taking haphazard turns to noisily shush the others.

To the right, astonishingly unaware that she was being quite so badly stalked, was the K-pop princess herself, bending archly to peer through the keyhole of the room next to mine. There was only one thing to be done by a far-from-home Englishman in such a predicament. I harrumphed nervously, hoping to strike just the right note of regretful intrusion and polite umbrance.

As one – and with an equal lack of success – the four figures did the nonchalant thing.
“Perhaps I could explain…” said Blue Dufflecoat.

“Could you?” asked Financial Know-How doubtfully.

For his part, Britpop Vinyl looked unconvinced.

Blue Dufflecoat thought for a moment.

“Possibly,” he said. “You see, we Three Wise Men have travelled from Afar to be here today….”

“Apparently, they had trouble recruiting locally, this being Hong Kong an all…” said Britpop Vinyl.

“Recruited?” I said, raising an eyebrow in the aptly quizzical fashion.

“Well, at first we thought it was a glitch,” said Blue Duffelcoat, “or that maybe Pokemon God! was a sort of free upgrade. Rather than telling us we had to collect them all…

“….it said we had to pursue a Korean pop luminary,” Britpop Vinyl finished for him.

“And I just had a strange compulsion to come to this very hotel on this very night and to visit this very room…” said the K-pop princess, indicating the door next to mine.

As one, we all turned to look at the door in question. An unearthly light was flooding out from the sizable gap between the plywood door and the stained tile flooring and, dimly, the sound of a pained grunting could just be discerned.

Revelation, reader, it hit me then.

“Wait,” I said, “you three are Wise Men from Afar…”

“I pride myself on my understanding of monetary systems….” said Financial Know-How.

“My specialist subject is the Seminal works of Damon Albarn and his band (1988-2003)…” said Britpop Vinyl.

“And I’ve got a bit of a sniffle…” said Blue Dufflecoat doubtfully.

“Don’t you see,” I said, “Cold, Banking Sense and Blur… And you were led here by following a Star from the East…. That can only mean….”

The four of us turned to stare at the glowing door, a sense of awe pervading us all as we realised the Sure Significance of Just What We Had Been Drawn Here to Witness that very night….

The thin wail of a new-born broke us out from our stupor.

“Unto us a child is born…” I whispered.

Slowly, the glowing door swung open and we peered within.

Nestled in a tiny cradle, was the source of the wail. It was, admittedly, a little redder than we’d expected. And the two horns on its tiny forehead weren’t exactly what we’d anticipated and nor, quite frankly, was its little pointed tail….

A sudden whiff of Sulphur hit us all and with a moderately blinding flash, a familiar trident-wielding, cloven hoofed figure materialised above the crib…

“Come now,” it said, “after a year of Aleppo, Trump, Brexit and Bowie dying, you surely weren’t expecting the Other Fellow…?”

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling takes a candid look at her own franchise

You might have thought that after writing seven books, eight films, two ‘pamphs’, a play, an encyclopaedia, one short story and a whole website about Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling might be a little sick of bespectacled boys and wondrous wizzardy tales.

Apparently not. Her latest Potter jottings have now formed the basis for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a newly-released movie set to sooth Hogwarts hankerings the world over as of this very month. More impressively still, Rowling has promised not just one sequel to her new fantasy franchise but four. This means we are likely to be treated to new instalments well into the 2030s, whether we like it or not.

According to the author, this wasn’t the original plan when she first sat down with Warner Brothers, the movie-making megalith that has hung much of its profit expectations on all things Harry since the turn of the millennium.

Reflecting on just how this latest piece of the Potter pantheon came to be, she says: “We always knew that it was going to be more than one movie, so we set it as a trilogy as a sort of placeholder. Now I’ve done the plotting properly, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be at least five movies.”

Adding an intriguing hint as to where the series is heading, she says: “I think, when you realise what story we’re really telling, you’ll understand that it can’t possibly all fit in one movie! There’s a natural arc that takes it to five…”

Loosely based on Rowling’s book of the same name, Fantastic Beasts was conceived as a magical creatures textbook, one that was required reading at Hogwarts, Harry’s alma mater. Taking a slightly different tack, the film follows the 1920’s adventures of one Newt Scamander, the textbook’s supposed author.

Although it is clearly designed to be the first in a series of prequels to the Harry Potter canon we all know so well, many of the connections to the latter Potter can – at first glance – seem a little tenuous. Given the world’s on-going love affair with the scar-faced sorcerer, however, any concerns are surely ill-founded, especially with stars of the magnitude of Eddie Redmayne and Jon Voight along for the ride.

“Now I’ve done the plotting, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be five Fantastic Beasts movies”

In truth, the enthusiasm of the franchise’s fans for any product with the Potter stamp on it means that its success is pretty much guaranteed. When tickets for the play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child went on sale earlier this year, for instance, the 175,000 seats were all sold in 24 hours – a record for any production ever put on in London’s West End.

The play, a collaboration between Rowling and Jack Thorne, an established playwright, is a sequel to the original Potter stories, taking up where the epilogue at the end of the very last book leaves off, with Albus – Harry’s son – starting his schooling at Hogwarts.

While developing a sequel and a prequel at the same time might have proved a stretch for most writers, Rowling apparently relished the challenge. She says: “I had this residue of material in my head, going in both directions – with Fantastic Beasts going backwards and with the play going forwards.

“Although it’s been more than a decade since the last book, just because I stopped writing it doesn’t mean my imagination stopped. It’s like running a very long race. You can’t just stop dead at the finishing line. I carry that world around in my head all the time.”

Harry Potter, it seems, has never been far from her thoughts, ever since he (in her words) “strolled into my head fully formed” during a train journey some quarter of a century ago. She says: “The idea for him came to me very, very quickly. I could practically see him.”

The rest of her story is, as they say, well-documented history. She spent five years thinking up adventures for her boy wizard, endured considerable hardships as a struggling single mother, trying to earn a living while writing the early drafts of her first book. Then there were the early rejections, with 12 publishers turning her down. She claims her first submission was returned so fast, it must have been sent back the very day it arrived.

Then – once she had found a publisher with the good sense to recognise a goldmine when they saw one – came the enthusiastic approval of readers and critics alike, the rapid rise to the top of the UK best-seller lists, the extraordinary international success, the sequels, the sale of the film rights, the spin-offs… Within a decade, Rowling’s creation had become a true cultural phenomenon.

“I am never going to hate the Harry Potter world, but there are other worlds I want to live in too”

In fact, statistics hardly do it justice. More than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide. They’ve been translated into 65 languages. The first – Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone – is the fifth-bestselling book of all time. The films alone have grossed more than US$75bn (HK$581.6bn), making them the most financially successful cinema franchise in history. To this day, six are in the top 20 list of the Most Money-Making Movies Ever.

As a result, Rowling is now a multi-millionaire – the world’s wealthiest author – said to be worth an extraordinary £580m (HK$5.48bn) according to last year’s Rich List (published by the UK’s Sunday Times newspaper), or just under US$1bn (HK$7.75bn) if you prefer the valuation put forward by Forbes.

Many would be content to have created just one character as successful as Harry Potter. Rowling, though, has been at pains to prove she can expand her repertoire. This has led her to write an adult novel – The Casual Vacancy – and, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, a series of crime stories revolving round the investigations of Cormoran Strike, a private detective.

Of her ventures into non-Potter fiction, Rowling says: “I love the world of Harry Potter. I am never going to hate that world, but there are other worlds I want to live in too.”

Addressing her need to write The Casual Vacancy, she says she wanted to show that she could do more than just write children’s books. As to its mixed reception, she is distinctly unfazed, saying: “The worst that could have happened is that everyone would have said: ‘That was dreadful, she should have stuck to writing for kids’. I can take that. If everyone says: ‘Well, that was shockingly bad – back to wizards for you’, then obviously I wouldn’t have thrown a party, but I’d have lived.”

The disdain certain literary types expressed for The Casual Vacancy didn’t stop it becoming a bestseller, inevitably boosted as it was by Rowling’s fame and popularity. That, however, wasn’t the case with her first Cormoran Strike story – The Cuckoo’s Calling – of which, initially, only a few thousand were sold. Once the true identity of the author was accidentally revealed – when her publisher’s lawyer let it slip to an acquaintance, who then mentioned it on social media – sales went through the roof.

Expressing her disappointment that her fake identity was revealed so soon, she says: “I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer – being Robert Galbraith was such a liberating experience. It was wonderful to publish without hype or expectation and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”

It seems unlikely that Rowling will ever again be able to create anything that is free from the Harry Potter halo effect. In fact, she has pretty much accepted that as an inevitable consequence of the boy wizard’s astonishing popularity.
While it was something she had never foreseen when she first started writing about Harry, Hermione, Hagrid and the rest of the Hogwarts crowd, Rowling has no regrets about the way it turned out. She says: “I never set out to build a big community, but I don’t think there is a writer alive who wouldn’t want to have that many people react to their work.”

Today, she feels that one of the main reasons for the success of Harry Potter – in all of its growing number of incarnations – is that it touched a common chord with many of her readers. It chimed with their own sense of isolation or sadness and allowed them to envisage a better reality.

Expanding on her theory as to her characters’ success, she says: “The big reason why people loved Potter was that it felt like it could happen. It had a sense that there is more to the world, just on the other side, even within touching distance. It is the promise of another world.
“While it doesn’t have to be a magical world, to a lonely child or an insecure person or anyone who feels different or isolated, the idea of having a place where they truly belong is everything. That’s what happened and people came inside this world with me.”
And that they undoubtedly did. And in their millions too. With Harry Potter And The Cursed Child playing to packed houses in London and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them looking odds-on to become the latest Potter-related cinema hit, it seems many are perfectly happy to stay in the world of Quidditch and Gryffindor and Blast-Ended Skrewts for just as long as J.K. Rowling is willing to permit them.

Long after his death, Walt Disney’s magic kingdom still flourishes

Walt Disney – good old Uncle Walt – must be chuckling on high. With the fiftieth anniversary of his death just around the corner, the company he created is now a vast multi-national entertainment empire, the second biggest media conglomerate on the planet, a cinematic colossus that owns everything from Snow White to Star Wars, while running one of America’s biggest TV networks, the world’s most popular chain of theme parks, and a multi-billion-dollar merchandising operation – not to mention a record company, sundry real estate interests and a cruise line.

It’s all a far cry from the two-bit partnership Walt set up with Roy Disney – his pretty much forgotten brother – back in the Hollywood of the early 1920s. Initially, the plan was to market a series of Alice in Wonderland-themed animated short films Walt had created, but it was clear, even then, that the man behind Mickey Mouse, fancied himself as good a businessman as he was an artist. No doubt, he would have more than approved of just how things have turned out.

It’s not just the company Disney founded that has flourished since those days, however – so have the legends surrounding Walt himself. The myth – perpetuated by Disney Studios to this day – tells of an innovative artistic and business genius who rose from humble beginnings to fame and fortune, revolutionising the world of cinema and delighting audiences throughout the world along the way.

Much of this is, of course, true. It’s undeniable that Disney and his designers transformed animation into an art form, revolutionising the techniques used to bring their drawings. Perhaps even more significantly, raised the status of cartoons forever, elevating them from being a five-minute into being a fully fledged lead feature.

The picture we have of Disney as an entrepreneurial genius, though, is perhaps less deserved. It’s fair to say that his company’s commercial success owes as much to luck as to anything else. His first few business ventures were all resounding failures and the embryonic Disney Studios might have suffered the same fate had it not been for one cartoon creation…

It’s probably not the one you’re thinking of. The studio’s original star was not a mouse, but a rabbit called Oswald who starred in 26 short films. It was here that’s Disney’s dubious business skills became apparent. He lost control of his creation to Universal Studios, having failed to secure the copyright.

Oswald’s hasty replacement was a suspiciously similar-looking rodent, a mouse originally dubbed Mortimer, until Disney’s wife persuaded him Mickey was more box-office friendly. It was pure chance, then, that led to the birth of a true cinematic legend

Mickey made Disney’s reputation, winning him the first of his astonishing 26 Oscars. To this day, he remains the most honoured filmmaker in Academy Award history. Ironic really, given that Mickey wasn’t even Walt’s creation.

Though Disney provided the preliminary sketches, it was Ub Iwerks, his partner, who first rendered Mickey in a form that we would recognise today. Disney did, however, provide the mouse’s squeaky, high-pitched voice right up until 1947.

While Disney may not have been entirely responsible for the creation that kick-started his company, few could argue that it was anything other than his visionary genius that ultimately propelled the studio to greatness. It was Walt who embraced complex new techniques, while encouraging his artists to refine their skills and make their drawings ever more lifelike. This ushered in the Golden Age of Animation, the era in the late 1930s and 1940s when the Disney studio churned out a seemingly never-ending stream of classics – Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi …

In process, though, he once again came close to destroying the company. Snow White (1937), for example, went wildly over budget, nearly bankrupting Disney in the process. Meanwhile, the Second World War was hitting box-office receipts hard, especially in Europe, with Bambi (1942) making a huge loss. By 1944, Disney Studios was US$4m (HK$31m) in debt and being kept alive solely at the discretion of the banks.

It was until the release of Cinderella (1950) that the company found a firm financial footing, with the movie raking in an impressive US$8m (HK$62m) in its first year alone. Disney, though, had little to do with that. By then, he’d become a somewhat semi-detached presence, his attention fixed on new projects, such as Disney-themed TV programmes and his pet obsession – Disneyland, a fabulous family-friendly amusement park.

In fact, Disney had very little direct input into any of the animated classics his company produced in the last decade and a half of his life. While it was true that he oversaw the production of Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, the actual work was left to Disney’s leading artists – a group known as the Nine Old Men.

While the Nine Old Men were creating the masterpieces which were to define Disney Studios, Walt was getting involved in politics. A founding member of the right-wing, anti-Communist Motion Picture Alliance For The Preservation Of American Ideals – alongside John Wayne and Ronald Reagan – he also appeared before the US Congress’s Un-American Activities Committee, denouncing several of his former animators as Communist agitators.

Disney’s political leanings have attracted considerable criticism since his death, with him frequently billed as an anti-Semite, a racist, and a rose-tinted apologist for the more unsavoury parts of American history. Those who knew him and worked with him, however, are unequivocal in denying the charges. Well, the first two at least.

While Disney was happy to employ Jews in senior positions in his company, doubts remain. Examples of offensive Jewish and black stereotyping abound in his earlier films. In 1938, he even offered Leni Riefenstahl – a notorious Nazi propagandist and filmmaker – a tour of his studios just a month after Kristallnacht, the infamous night when Jewish shops, hospitals and religious establishments across Germany were ransacked. While Disney may not have been a racist, many of those he chose to associate with clearly were.

Despite Disney’s unsavoury politics, the company he founded seemed to suffer no ill effects. By the time of his death in 1966, Disney was synonymous with providing clean, wholesome family entertainment – not just in the cinema and on TV, but also at the increasingly successful Disneyland park.

Disney’s determination to create Disneyland had proved to be one of his few undoubtedly wise decisions and ultimately saved the company. Just a few years after his death, Disney Studios went into decline.

A series of ill-thought out projects in the 1970s – most notably, The Black Hole, a costly attempt to make a Star Wars style science fiction blockbuster – left the company financially vulnerable. By the 1980s, it was only Disneyland – and its sister attraction Disney World – that kept the company afloat, generating nearly three quarters of the group’s entire income.
Things had to change. In 1984, a new boss, Michael Eisner, was appointed. This was the first time someone from outside Walt’s family had been made head of the company. He upgraded and expanded Disney’s cinema output, producing such hits as Good Morning Vietnam and Pretty Woman; while at presiding over a new generation of animated classics, including The Lion King and Aladdin. Disney’s second Golden Age had begun.

Over the course of 30 years, Eisner and his successor – current boss Bob Iger – reinvented Disney, taking it from being a faltering film company to becoming a true multi-media giant. They bought television networks, most notably ABC and the ESPN sports channel. They acquired a number of production companies, ranging from the Muppets to Marvel Entertainment. They even paid an eye-watering US$7.4bn (HK$57.4) for Pixar, the innovative animation company behind Toy Story and Finding Nemo fame. More recently – in 2012 – they paid US$4bn (HK$31bn) for Lucasfilm, the makers of Star Wars.

They also opened four more enormous theme parks – in Japan, France, Hong Kong and Shanghai. All the while, Disney continued to maintain its reputation for highly successful animated feature films. Its 2013 mega-hit Frozen, for example, is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. At the last count, the Walt Disney Company’s market value was some US$179.5 billion (HK$1.39tn).

It’s a success story that Walt himself could scarcely have dreamt up. Certainly, not back in the days when he lost the rights to his first creation, Oswald the Rabbit, with all hope of a successful future in the film industry seemingly at an end.
Even in the case of Oswald, though, Walt eventually got the last laugh, if somewhat posthumously. A few years back, in a deal with Universal, Disney re-acquired the rights to the veteran bunny without even handing over a cent. Today, Oswald is a video game star – proving that Walt Disney’s characters, like the company he founded, have a seemingly endless ability to adapt and prosper.

40 years on and the punk revolution remains irreversible

Punk’s Not Dead” is a legend you will still find defiantly scrawled on leather jackets or semi-demolished walls. Once the rebellious call to arms of a dedicated, subversive sub-culture – one with a particular penchant for loud, fast melodies and a defiant embrace of neo-libertarian, anti-fascist ideals – today it can seem little more than a nostalgic conceit. Many, though, maintain that its rebellious ethos persists and that one of the most potent youth movements of the 1970s is still far more than just a novelty.

This year, with punk celebrating the 40th anniversary of the days when it first detonated on to the music scene, some would maintain it’s still in (very) rude health. As a musical discipline, at the very least, it has cemented its place as one of the most memorable sub-genres in rock history, easily as seminal as rap or heavy metal. That said, contemporary punk is a far cry from the explosive, anti-authoritarian movement that saw a disgruntled, disillusioned generation first find its voice some four decades ago.

As with any organically-formed musical movement, putting an exact time and place on the birth of punk is nigh on impossible. Depending who you ask, the first punk chords rang out anywhere from New York to London to Brisbane. What is undeniable, however, is that punk was born out of the imperial ashes of a post-war industrial boom, ultimately embraced by an increasingly alienated and marginalised generation coming to terms with the economic recession that would define it.

Regardless of your allegiance, it is not difficult to pinpoint the bands that catapulted punk from cult obscurity to public outrage. The bands widely acknowledged as the pioneers of the genre are legion – The Ramones, The New York Dolls, The Damned, The Clash, The Stranglers, Crass, The Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees and, to a slightly lesser degree of notoriety, The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, The Saints and Stiff Little Fingers to name a few. Towering above them all, of course, was the mighty Sex Pistols.

While each different scene – be it in London or New York – had its peculiarities, the first wave of punk bands were united by common ideologies and a uniquely raw and unpolished sound. The wider world, though, first became aware of the phenomenon in the wake of the infamous Sex Pistols’ June 4, 1976 concert at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. This has rightly been hailed as the gig that changed music forever.

Such was the anti-establishment sentiment at the time, punk was embraced by a vast tranche of an apparently lost generation. More than just a musical genre, it was a fierce ideology and one that lent itself to an unprecedentedly raucous lifestyle. Malcolm McLaren, the Pistol’s messianic manager, and Vivienne Westwood, the doyenne of punk design, were the key movers in establishing the genre’s DIY aesthetic – safety pins, leather jackets and bondage gear.

With the music press of the day anointing the movement as “punk”, it wasn’t long before it became a truly global phenomenon. Conquering mainstream radio, popular music charts and giving rise to an explosion of musical offshoots and subgenres, its influence on the contemporary scene should not be underestimated.

Arthur Urquiola, a musician and founder of the independent Hong Kong music label Artefracture, which still releases punk-style rock, says: “I always saw punk rock as an entire universe that existed outside of what was directly in front of you. It started with music that sounded different – and better – than the stuff with the Giant Machine behind it.

“There was also literature, live music, film and an entire subculture built on the idea of doing more for yourself. Today, you will find that the people behind the music, zines, and websites are hugely like-minded people with similar aspirations, many of whom have been trying to do things in a way that doesn’t require huge resources.

“The idea of being self-sufficient has stuck with me. To me, DIY is the defining characteristic of punk.”

Although remote from many of the cultural cues that gave birth to punk, Hong Kong was far from immune to the phenomenon. In the early 90s, as a second wave of bands coalesced around 924 Gilman Street, California’s legendary punk incubator, Hong Kong began to take notice.

Inspired by this generation of US bands – Operation Ivy, Green Day and Bad Religion – the Hong Kong music scene was transformed by the arrival of the Pregnant Men, Star Whores, Tokyo Sex Whale and That Guy’s Belly. While the scene was small and didn’t have the impact of its US or UK counterpart, it had a hugely immersed following. Ultimately, it gave rise not just to bands, but also to such esoteric publications as Defecation Fanzine and Thrown Overboard, magazines that defined a way of life for the initiated.

Brendan Sheridan, a songwriter and guitarist in That Guy’s Belly, was also the driving force behind Defecation. Recalling its heyday, he says: “It was about questioning authority and being true to your ideals. The bands and zines were a lot of fun and affected our lives as well as those around us, even if just in a minor way.”

ce the battle cry of an entire generation of disillusioned youth – a movement that was pervasive enough to cause real concern among the establishment – has now morphed into something quite different. Today, it is seen as an authentic art form, one with an unshakeable identity and an enduring look.

Acknowledging this, Urquiola says: “Punk’s not dead and I wouldn’t say it’s even grown up. It has had to change with the times, though, and redefine itself.”

“It’s a very different world to back when I first discovered punk, just as things were wholly different 15-20 years before that.”

Understandably, things are also wholly different now for many of punk’s founding fathers. Steve Ignorant, 58, back then the singer with Crass, is now a lifeboat man, while Terry Chimes, 59, the onetime drummer for The Clash, is now a chiropractor. Looking back from his 40-year-on perspective, Chimes says: “The experience of challenging and changing the establishment was good for everyone at the time. Whatever you do after that, you always take that with you. You never lose that sense that things don’t have to be the way they are.”

Not everyone, however, has moved on quite as dramatically as Chimes. John Lydon – the punk formerly known as Johnny Rotten during his years as the frontman of the Sex Pistols – is still making music. He now composes and performs with a number of bands. Similarly, Jello Biafra, the former lead singer of The Dead Kennedys, remains heavily involved with the Alternative Tentacles record label.

As the first generation of punks turned to gainful employment – with many of them now contemplating retirement – a wholly new lot picked up the baton and ran with it. Today’s punk bands have lost none of the zeal and gusto of their forefathers. While the look and ideology remains largely the same, the only real difference is that many of them are now considered almost mainstream.

In line with this, bands such as Green Day, Blink 182, Bad Religion and Good Charlotte are pretty much household names. This is all the more surprising given that contemporary technology provides ever more DIY avenues for bands to shun the conventional channels to success. As ironic as this mainstream acknowledgement may seem, the punk message remains robustly anti-establishment. While some hardcore devotees to the cause see this wider acceptance as tantamount to selling
out, others maintain it is just a sign of the times.

Urquiola says: “I think it’s all a little less black and white now. Back in the day, the notion of bands selling out meant signing with one of the music industry’s corporate giants, as opposed to sticking with the DIY world where everyone helped each other out albeit in a much smaller musical universe. Now the overall music industry is a lot smaller and signing to a major label might not be quite the advantage it once was.

“By the same token, even much smaller operations – whether they’re just tiny labels or even solo bands or musicians – can do so much on their own. It’s easy to get connected and present your music, wherever you are, to anyone anywhere in the world.

“An alternative way of looking at it, though, is that it is this very ease of access that makes it difficult for anyone to get noticed. It could be argued that signing with a major label isn’t so much a shortcut as a smart option. It means you can have professionals overseeing the different ways in which you operate as a band. Selling any number of records through this avenue is still pretty admirable.”

With the torch well and truly passed, even 21st century Hong Kong still boasts a small but devoted handful of punk bands – most notably Oi! Squad, Defiant Scum and Two Finger Salute – as well as Artefracture, a record label dedicated to helping such bands find an audience. So the next time you see a green mohawk or a safety-pinned nose, don’t just come over all nostalgic and think: “These kids should have been there back in the day… ” Instead, just reflect on the fact that Punk’s Truly Not Dead and that the world’s an arguably far better place for its persistence.

How to get the best tickets to the latest West End and Broadway hits

Whatever their historic, architectural or cultural differences, one thing unites New York and London, two of the world’s most celebrated cities – their theatrelands. Although they’re nearly 3,500 miles apart, New York’s Broadway and London’s West End jointly epitomise the very finest in on-stage spectacles the world has to offer – whether they are musicals, mysteries, comedies or classic dramas.

The chance to see some of the world’s finest actors live on stage is one that few visitors to either city can resist. Unlike most other popular entertainments – cinema, TV or even mammoth sporting events – chances to see musicals and plays are few and far between, with tickets to the hottest show in town sometimes sold out months – or even years – in advance.

For those in the know, however, seats for even the most in-demand performances of the season – and prime ones at that – can always be found. All it takes is a little resourcefulness. And a fair amount of cash.

First of all, before you begin foraging for tickets to that must-see matinee or sold-out Saturday, you have to know what’s really worth watching. Naturally, this changes from month to month and year to year. At present, though, it’s hard to imagine that anything – on either side of the Atlantic – could match the popularity and critical acclaim of Hamilton, the smash-hit musical currently playing to packed houses in Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre.

An extraordinary and unlikely piece, it’s actually an 18th century historical drama set to the rhythms and rhymes of contemporary New York hip-hop. It tells the true(ish) tale of Alexander Hamilton, an American revolutionary and politician who rose from a poor background to hold high office, before being brought down by feuding and sexual skulduggery.

Few would have thought that a musical based on long forgotten political factionalism and raps about monetary policy could ever be more than a minor cult hit. Hamilton’s sheer exuberance, humour and inventive wordplay, however, have seen it win overwhelming admiration from audiences and critics alike.

If you like the sound of it, but you’re heading for London rather than New York, don’t despair – just postpone your trip a little. It’s due to open in the West End in the autumn of next year.

Already playing to sell-out audiences in both cities is The Book of Mormon, a musical comedy from the creators of South Park, arguably the world’s most outrageous cartoon series. A hilarious take-down of religion, The Book of Mormon is filthy, funny and flippantly offensive. And yet – somehow – sweetly innocent too.

Since it opened five years ago, it has scooped up several armfuls of prestigious theatre awards – including nine Tonys, four Laurence Oliviers and a Grammy.

Altogether more conventional is Beautiful – a musical taking its inspiration from the life and works of Carole King, the celebrated American singer-songwriter. The show has proved something of a surprise hit in both London and New York.

The production uses many of King’s most famous songs to tell the story of her romantic and professional relationship with Gerry Goffin, her writing partner and, now, ex-husband. It’s uplifting and powerful, and its success even led to King coming out of semi-retirement to play a one-off gig in London’s Hyde Park.

If you’re looking for something a little more contemporary, however, there are two shows that debuted on Broadway this year that dazzled New York audiences and critics alike. Waitress is a feel-good feminist-lite tale of life in a Deep South diner, while The Humans is a bitter-sweet study of American family life. While it’s a thought-provoking drama, it’s probably not one for those who like to leave the theatre humming a memorable ditty or two.

Looking further ahead, Robert de Niro – that most legendary of movie stars – is set to make his Broadway debut next month. This will see him treading the boards in A Bronx Tale, a musical take on his own 1993 mob drama. De Niro’s involvement alone pretty much guarantees a sell-out run.

This aside, 2017 looks set to be a big year for Broadway revivals, with new productions of The Glass Menagerie – the classic drama that first made Tennessee Williams’ name – and Hello Dolly, the evergreen musical that sees Bette Midler take on the title role.

Another show destined to be a 2017 hit states-side has already wowed audiences in London. Groundhog Day – a new musical based on Bill Murray’s ever-popular 1993 big screen comedy of the same name – famously tells the comic tale of Phil Connors, a TV weatherman of no fixed moral compass, who is condemned to live the same day over and over again until he mends his ways. It has received a series of rave reviews since opening at London’s Old Vic theatre in August and it opens on Broadway in March.

The hottest show currently playing in the West End, though, is undoubtedly Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. This – the stage debut of the bespectacled English wizard – has been hailed as a truly magical masterpiece. It’s a sequel to the much-loved book and films and features a middle-aged Harry, startling special effects and a thrilling time-travelling plot.

Perhaps the only downside is its length. In total, it stretches over five hours and is split into two separate parts. This can either be seen on the same day or over two separate nights. None of this, though, seems to have deterred the famously fanatical Harry Potter fanbase, with tickets for the show possibly the hardest to secure on the planet. Pretty much every seat is sold out until April next year – and even then, all that seems to be available is a single seat in the stalls for Part 2. Probably with an obscured view.

Of course, getting seats – especially good ones – for any of the more popular productions can be something of a drama in its own right. Many shows are apparently sold out months in advance or the only tickets available are for matinees or for seats immediately behind a Doric column.

The truly intrepid ticket hunter, though, can pretty much always find what they’re looking for. The first stop should always be the online secondary ticketing sites, the more reputable of which charge just a small mark-up on the original box office price. Some even offer tickets at discounted prices. But probably only for Phantom of the Opera.

For the most comprehensive range of sold-out Broadway shows, try www.broadwaybox.com. As an alternative, there’s also www.theatermania.com and www.playbill.com, both of which offer discounted tickets to users who join their free online clubs.

For the West End, www.lovetheatre.com is your best bet, while www.lastminute.com is excellent when it comes to securing tickets at short notice. Be warned, though, tickets for London shows are far less likely to be offered at a discount than those in New York. And none of them have Harry Potter tickets at any price. Believe us. We’ve checked. Twice.

Alternatively, you can arrange your theatre tickets beforehand, along with your flights and hotel bookings. Try www.theatrebreaks.com/new-york to search for a combination of a Broadway show and a hotel. You’ll have to call them directly, though, if you want flights included in the package. For those London-bound, www.hoteldirect.co.uk/theatrebreaks.htm offers the widest range of West End combinations.

Those already abroad and without access to the internet – should such creatures exist – might prefer to search for tickets in person. London and New York operate official one-stop ticket booths – both called TKTS but, confusingly enough, both entirely separate organisations – in the centre of their respective theatrelands. Both cater for those searching for last-minute, hard-to-acquire tickets.

The TKTS booth in New York’s Times Square is so big and so busy it’s more of a shop than a stand. If you don’t mind a bit of hustle and bustle and some queuing, it is possible to pick up excellent tickets for pretty much any show you want – many of them at discounts of up to 50 percent.

London’s TKTS in Leicester Square is somewhat smaller, but still sells tickets for almost every West End show (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child being the exception). Their seats tend not to be quite as good as those from its Broadway equivalent. Most, though, are sold at a discount and you can not only buy on the day of the performance, but also for up to a week ahead.

Why go to all the trouble of getting the tickets yourself, though? Many hotels will do it all for you. If your hotel boasts a concierge, simply ask them if they can acquire the tickets you’re after. Almost inevitably, they’ll be able to oblige.

Asked for the inside track, “Daniel” – who works on the concierge desk of one luxury central London hotel – said: “If our guests tell us in the morning what show they would like to see that evening, we can purchase the tickets and have them printed and ready for them that afternoon. It’s very rare that we can’t find what they’ve asked for.”

Josh, a former Manhattan concierge, told a similar tale, saying: “The concierge has special powers that you don’t have. He deals with ticket brokers, while you, a mere mortal, only have access to the box office or illegal and untrustworthy scalpers (ticket touts). Our tickets will be pricey, but they’ll be the only way you’ll get into Hamilton tonight.”

Talking of pricey, some concierges in New York – though reportedly not at the more up-market establishments – will add on a 10-15 percent surcharge on top of the cost of the tickets, while all will expect to be tipped handsomely for their efforts. In top London hotels, however, procuring theatre tickets seems to be part of the service.

Can they find those elusive Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets, though? Sadly, it seems no. When asked, Daniel smiles ruefully and shakes his head. It seems some tasks are beyond even the finest concierge.