Q & A with the director of Toxic Beauty
 
After seeing two powerful documentaries at the Raindance film festival, I thought to myself that we all have to be activists in this day and age. Recently when I met up with different friends, we would talk about how the world seems to be [...]

 
Although I haven't seen all the art and design exhibitions in London this year, but out of all the ones that I have seen, I would say the Stanley Kubrick exhibition is the cream of the crop (alongside with Christian Dior at the V & A); it is certainly the best exhibition [...]

 
Fashioned from Nature exhibition at The V & A museum
 
It is time to face the truth: the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. This is not fake news, it is a fact.
Confession 1: I am guilty of polluting the environment, and I have been doing [...]

Anoushka Shankar performing live for the 1928 Indian silent film – Shiraz: A romance of Indian at the Barbican
 
I saw 8 engrossing films and documentaries in total at the Raindance and BFI film festivals this year, and I feel that the overall standard of the films I saw this year is exceptionally [...]

The Chinese human rights activist Ye Haiyan
 
Last week I attended the opening night of the Human Rights watch film festival to watch a new documentary called 'Hooligan Sparrow' by young Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang.
The filmmaker originally wanted to make a film about the abuse of sex workers in China, but ended up [...]

While in Hong Kong, two major culture festivals were taking place, so I took the opportunity to attend the Hong Kong Arts Festival, where I saw a China and Hong Kong collaborative play 'The Crowd' and listened to traditional Korean music reinterpreted by contemporary groups Jeong Ga Ak Hoe & Su:m.
However, as [...]

 
A while back I wrote about the Japanese soft power on the world, but within the last decade, the world has witnessed how South Korea managed to conquer the world through technology, design, cosmetics (including surgeries) and pop culture in a relatively short period of time. The transformation is staggering because South [...]

I am not sure how other film buffs pick their choices at the BFI London Film Festival, but usually by the time I finish 'studying' the brochure, all the films that I intend to see would sell out!
Like always, I would pick the less popular films or films that are less unlikely [...]

Top & bottom left: Crest by Zaha Hadid Architects; Bottom right: Carousal wall by David David and Johnson Tiles
 
Another year, another design festival... unlike the previous years, I didn't have the time to do much planning beforehand, so I missed many talks especially at the V & A because they were [...]

 
This summer, a few overseas friends who visited both Paris and London told me that they enjoyed London much more than Paris. When I asked them the reasons, they said that the streets of Paris feel unsafe and chaotic, whereas London feels more vibrant and safer. I wasn't surprised by this as [...]