The rest of this article is available to login users only.
Login or Become a member

[Guarded by Membership Site Software: Wordpress Membership Site Plugin - MemberWing - membership site plugin]
[Supported by: VGA Capture Cards and VGA Capture Solutions]

The rest of this article is available to login users only.
Login or Become a member

[Guarded by Membership Site Software: Wordpress Membership Site Plugin - MemberWing - membership site plugin]
[Supported by: VGA Capture Cards and VGA Capture Solutions]

Hong Kong’s own global High Street fashion brand Esprit is launching its Autumn/Winter range in style by enlisting top models for its ad campaigns.

The face of Esprit Men is GQ Best Model of the year and all round hottie Jon Kortajarena (who also had a bit part in Tom Ford’s A Single Man), while the gay connection is cemented by the inclusion of model and author Boyd Holbrook who you may recognize from Sean Peen’s Harvey Milk biopic Milk.

Esprit, 100 Queen’s Road, Central

The Goods Of Desire boys have teamed up with the Savanna College of Art & Design (SCAD) to launch a pop-up store at G.O.D Peak Galleria featuring a large range of innovative home décor collections. The collections feature cutting edge creative design from SCAD students and alumni, designed under the auspices of their Working Class Studios. Get your funky pillows, dinnerware, clocks frames and kitchenware and stationary while stocks last.

G.O.D, Shop 32-41, Level 2, Peak Galleria, The Peak

Coffee drinkers with a conscience will be delighted with Central’s newest independent café. The brainchild of a husband and wife team who aim to emulate Sydney’s renowned coffee bar scene, Oscar’s expresso bar uses only the highest quality beans from environmentally sustainable farms. Half of Oscar’s coffee beans come from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, and the establishment is being run as environmental friendly as possible, with carbon offsets from the Australian Orang-utan Project being purchased to offset energy use. A “good ”cup of coffee in more ways than one.

OSCAR’S Espresso Bar, 85-89 Wellington St, Central

Fed up of scouring the supermarkets aisles for veggies while trying to decide what to cook? Have you eaten out every day this week because you don’t have time to shop for groceries? Well, why not turn the corner to healthy living by signing up for a weekly basket from Homegrown Foods. From as little as $244 a week, you can have a basket of 7-9 specially selected seasonal vegetables delivered to your door.

www.homegrownfoods.com.hk

Words : James Gannaban

On 3 July, Saturday, a Macau-bound helicopter was forced to ditch in Victoria Harbour due to a massive failure in its tail, seconds after take-off from the Shun Tak Center helipad.

On 4 July, Sunday, my South Bay Beach-bound self was suffering severe convulsions due to a massive failure in my previous commitment to a gym regimen.

It happens every summer – that routine rush of regret and remorse. Alas, swimsuit season has again arrived and my procrastination for physical fitness has materialised via some seriously shocking ab-flab.

“Take your shirt off. You’re only making yourself more conspicuous,” my boyfriend implored.

“No. I would rather die,” I replied petulantly. I’m not blind. I was indeed aware that I was the only fully-dressed chicken amongst a veritable buffet of plucked roosters.

In fact, I was transfixed by the fascinating form of “flight” unique to South Bay Beach – the magical levitation of gay boys. They don’t walk; they float. On spindly legs that never seem to touch the white sand, their over-exercised chests are massive hot air balloons. They are powered by propane of pure attitude, propelled by credit crunch-defying Prada sunglasses. Their tail rotors impressively oscillate underneath the hapless strain of skimpy Arena bathers. And as they hover about, the air thickens with the sweet redolence of coconut and various extracts of exotic plants. After all, these creatures aviate with a fuel tank-full of Hawaiian Tropic Dark Tanning Oil.

They’re spectacular, these birds.

My flightless self was awash in a deep sense of ennui fueled by warm beer. My mind was howling, “Unfair!” These boys have a carb-laden diet of chow mein and fried rice, plus an insatiable appetite for roast meats dripping with unctuousness. How the hell do they maintain defiantly lean figures that scream 0% body fat? Some of these boys look like whippets! I kept my shirt and grandpa-shorts on. I continued to fake indifference by insolently chomping on my Mexican wrap.

In principle, I should be happy with my body, which allows me to do the things I like to do to enjoy a well-rounded life – tackle my day job like a workhorse, go on challenging walks, party like a heathen, have sex. I feel physically well, so why is muscle envy torturing my emotional wellness? Does it mean I’m shallow? Is it only a myth that most of us don’t have the time to develop bodies portrayed in porn movies, when in truth, 80% of gay Hong Kong cavorted before my eyes in sheer anatomic perfection? Do I have my priorities mixed up?

That afternoon, I felt like I could have been the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter that was the subject of yesterday’s news. But while the valiant efforts of the pilot and his first officer allowed the aircraft’s 11 passengers to escape unharmed, a portion of my tail had broken off and has yet to be retrieved from the toxic depths of Victoria Harbour.

I’m the subject of a self-imposed emergency airworthiness directive. Can maintenance repair afford any more procrastination? With my jelly belly looking like an emergency flotation device, I can only wonder if I’ll be cleared for take-off when Floatilla comes around in October.

- James Gannaban , the co-founder of Mr . Gay Hong Kong , has always got his head high up in the clouds .