TV - reality shows and Gossip Girl

I've been watching way too much tv lately.

Reality shows:
America's Next Top Model
Project Runway
The Bachelor
Runway Moms
Dirty Dancing
Last Comic Standing
American Idol
Make me a Super Model

Other shows:
Gossip Girl
Entourage

I think Leighton Meester (right) from Gossip Girl looks a lot like Rachel Bilson (left) from the OC, but is far prettier. What do you think?

Culture Matters on ICS and blogs

On Friday night I watched a fascinating segment on "Culture Matters" (ICS channel). The host interviewed Kenneth Tan, a Singaporean guy who moved to Shanghai 5 years ago and started up a men's underwear brand and the very successful news website/blog Shanghaiist, a local Shanghainese man with a very succesful self-titled blog Wang Jian Shuo and CEO of Kijiji China and an Asian bureau chief and global technology journalist for Securities Industry News Maria Trombly.

They talked about blogs, what blogs are, can blogs help you make money? etc etc. They also interviewed random people on the street (looked like Raffles/People's Square area to me) both Chinese and Western and asked them their opinions about blogs, do they read them?, do they have one?, etc etc.

It was probably a bit simplistic and basic for me but I still found it interesting and found myself wanting to hear more from the panel of 'experts'.

Culture Matters blog

ICS tv channel

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Last night I watched almost 2 hours of this channel in one hit!

At 6:30pm there was/is a cooking show hosted by what we think is an Australian woman, and a French chef and filmed at the Westin hotel (although there was a typo on screen and it said "Weatin hotel" hahaha!)

Then there was some craft making DIY activity shows - first making paper roses, then modelling clay sculptures.

Then there was a discussion with an expat who's lived here a number of years and what he thought about current affairs topics. One of the things they talked about was that Shanghai is planning on introducing the no plastic bags policy which many other countries have. Apparently this will start in June. Hubby said good luck to them enforcing it! Well, hopefully it'll take off. I hate the feeling of so much wastage. It's bad enough with billions of disposable chopsticks, toothpicks, plastic packaging and whatnot. I actually feel a bit sick thinking about this when I'm flying on a plane or staying in a hotel. But anyway...

I just want to say again that ICS is pretty good! :)

ICS tv channel

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Well the channel seems to be pretty good. There is a good variety of programs and there are also subtitles in Chinese. Unfortunately our excitement about the Amazing Race was short-lived when we realised it was a really old season (the family edition)!

They just reviewed all the Pixar (Disney) films and am now showing a couple of music videos... Music videos.. how many years or decades has it been since I watched one of these?!

International Channel Shanghai (ICS)

I was going to blog about this earlier but forgot. Now I don't watch much tv, hardly any at all (the only shows I watch are "Amazing Race" and "Amazing Race Asia") but I am surprised to discover that Shanghai now has its very own English Channel called ICS. Woohoo! I gave up on free-to-air CCTV channels a long, long time ago after we got satellite tv but now there may be a reason to watch it again :)

The Amazing Race

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Right now we're watching "The Amazing Race" season 12 on AXN on our good ol' satellite tv courtesy of the Philippines ;) I love this show and it's about the only show I watch on TV these days. We are also watching "The Amazing Race Asia" Season 2. I just love it! I love the travelling aspect, I love the competition side, the psychology side seeing how people interact with their partner and with the locals, etc etc. Fun fun fun!!

Right now I'm playing a bit of TAR myself. I am trying to get myself to Taiwan to see my grandparents but it's been a bit of a headache deciding the dates let alone the route!

When we were little kids there were no direct flights from Australia to Taiwan and we always had to go through Hong Kong. Similarly, although there are direct flights between Sydney and Shanghai it is easier to get flights stopping over in Hong Kong. All of our recent guests came via Hong Kong. So, obviously Hong Kong is the logical place for me to stop if I'm going to Taiwan (since you cannot fly directly between China and Taiwan).

However, my dad's ex-classmates were telling us it's quicker and easier to get to Taipei via Jeju (Cheju)-do (island) in South Korea. So I had a look into this.. The first quote I got off a travel agent quoted me this route as being more expensive than via Hong Kong, but the second one quoted me as it being cheaper. Weird.

What to do, what to do? And then, I had another thought. I could go back to Okinawa and visit there again since I loved it so much last time. I don't think the cost would differ that much. ARGH I don't know what to do?!

Here is a map so you can see my three options.



Jeju

Pros: I've never been to South Korea, Jeju is apparently "The Hawaii of South Korea"!

Cons: I can't read or speak Korean! It'll be too cold to enjoy the island-ness of it all, don't know how to get around or what to do there

Hong Kong

Pros: I know my way around there, I have no problems communicating, it'll be warmer than anywhere else mentioned, I miss it funnily enough

Cons: I've been there so many times already

Naha

Pros: I've been there already and already know where I'd stay and what I'd do there, how to get around, etc

Cons: I've been there already, I can read Japanese but not speak it that well