Hong

Hong Seok-cheon stands beaming before an adoring studio audience. It's a place he has always felt at home - basking in the celebrity spotlight. For years, the veteran actor has been an instantly recognizable media personality here, famous as the onetime host of a children's show that was South Korea's version of "Sesame Street" and costar of a popular 1990s sitcom. But on this Saturday afternoon, the slender 41-year-old with the signature shaved head is playing himself, an out-of-the-closet gay man talking about what it's like to be a pariah in a conservative society where 77% of Koreans in one poll said they believed "homosexuality should be rejected.

The popular music-subscription service Spotify will soon be streaming even wider. The Swedish-English firm announced that it will expand its services into eight new markets , including Mexico, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. It will also fortify its main bulwark in Europe, opening in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland. Spotify currently sports 24 million users and 6 million paying subscription customers. The free version of Spotify includes occasional advertisements, while paid versions are ad-free.

Prolific filmmaker Hong Sang-soo's latest experiment in form, "In Another Country," is a beguiling set of variations on a theme, a gossamer-light étude composed for delight rather than dissection. The movie comprises a triptych of vignettes, each about half an hour long and centering on a French woman, played by Isabelle Huppert, who's visiting a seaside town in South Korea. The three scenarios are presented as the creations of a young screenwriter (Jung Yumi) who's at loose ends.

The cop thriller "Cold War" was the big winner Saturday evening in Hong Kong at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards, taking home nine trophies including best film, best actor for Tony Leung Ka Fai, best director and screenplay for the team of Longman Leung and Sunny Luk Kim Ching, and best newcomer for Alex Tsui. Presented by the Hong Kong Film Awards Assn., the Hong Kong Awards are the equivalent of the Oscars and the BAFTAs. Miriam Yeung won the best actress award for the romantic comedy "Love in the Buff.

The Health Ministry of Singapore has banned sales of Hong Kong-made tablets billed as an aphrodisiac containing ingredients taken from moose, reindeer and tigers. A ministry statement said Friday that the pills, sold in Chinese shops, contain enough lead and mercury to kill people if taken over long periods. The statement said stocks of the pills should be sent to the ministry to be destroyed.

I hope Peter Hong and his family were occupying first-class seats when they ate their box lunches of broiled mackerel, black-bean pork ribs and string beans wrapped in beef teriyaki ("Before Silicon Valley, There Was San Jose," Weekend Escape, May 19). Even then it would seem that the other passengers in that section would have to endure the smell but not the flavor of the box lunches. In coach it would be unbearable to be seated next to people eating food like that, not to mention the odor that would cling to their clothing.

She may be the only six-foot tall Chinese actress in Hollywood, but it isn't hurting the career of Shakti. You saw the Hong Kong-born beauty--who also happens to be an expert in the martial art of Mal-Aikido--in "Volunteers" (as Tom Hanks' bodyguard). She'll also be in "Golden Child" (a seeress pointing Eddie Murphy to fortune). And she's just finished tackling nasty Triads in Cannon's action thriller, "Three Kinds of Heat," in Elstree, England. A U.S.

Early this month, the Canton Evening News called for a ban on late-night disco dancing and other forms of "capitalist dissipative night life" in this city. Recalling an old Chinese expression, the newspaper said in an editorial that it feared the new forms of entertainment might turn the young people of Canton into "worms during daytime work but dragons at night."

Re "The $200,000 college diploma," Current, Feb. 18 As an alumnus of both an expensive private school and an inexpensive public one, I take exception to Peter Hong's supposition that "our finest institutions, including several with multibillion-dollar endowments, say they don't know the answer" to constantly increasing their already astronomical tuition and fees. I received a tremendous education at both institutions I attended. Our "finest institutions" are not necessarily the private universities Hong refers to. Many of our best schools are taxsupported and very affordable to rich and poor alike.

Re "The Sage of Fortune Cookies," Nov. 4: I've saved some cookie fortunes over the years. I thought I'd share two: "You will get a new inspiration soon, but unfortunately it won't be any better than the others you have had." Hong Kong Noodle Co. (Ha!) "You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands on." Panda Express. (Wow!) The best slip I've found in a fortune cookie wasn't a fortune. I photocopied and enlarged this one and had it framed over my desk: "This person is serious and true and deserves to be respected."

HONG KONG - Strung up in the Sunbeam Theatre in a gritty working-class part of this city are posters showing Cantonese opera singers, their red lips offset by chalk-white, made-up faces. In the faded lobby, where theatergoers mill on a Saturday afternoon, dozens of bouquets with handwritten messages are dedicated to the stars by fans. For four decades, this theater in North Point on Hong Kong Island has been one of the last remaining stalwarts for Cantonese opera in the city. But its existence is by no means guaranteed.

HONG KONG - When Mabel Cheung, one of this city's leading directors, shot her historical-political drama "The Soong Sisters" in China in the mid-1990s, the nature of the exchange for the co-production was simple: Beijing provided inexpensive manpower, and professionals from the British colony's highly developed movie industry provided the expertise. Hong Kong cinema, after all, had been enjoying a golden age for close to two decades - celebrated directors such as John Woo and Wong Kar-wai had helped the city's filmmakers garner a global fan base.

HONG KONG -- What is beautiful? Four celebrated Asian filmmakers tackle the question in “Beautiful 2013,” a quartet of short films at the Hong Kong International Film Festival, which wraps up Tuesday.  The Chinese video site Youku and the festival jointly commissioned the film following their initial collaboration last year, “Beautiful 2012.” That movie ended up touring to more than 20 film festivals and garnered more than 16 million hits...

Foreigners who cook, clean houses and care for children in Hong Kong will not be eligible to become permanent residents like other workers from abroad, a final appeals court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling disappointed the Filipino workers who pressed the case and activists championing their cause. Foreigners working in other jobs can seek permanent residency after living seven years in Hong Kong, but its immigration rules explicitly bar “domestic helpers” from doing so. Permanent residents can stay indefinitely and vote in Hong Kong.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong-born, London-raised Roger Garcia continues his role as the executive director of the 37th Hong Kong International Film Festival. We talked with him about this year's event, which continues through April 2. What is the goal of this year's HKIFF? Our festival began 37 years ago as a cultural event to bring movies to Hong Kong to show people films that they might not otherwise have seen. Nowadays, because you can download and watch anything - anytime, anywhere - we do two things.

HONG KONG -- There is a moment in “The Last Time I Saw Macau” -- which plays Wednesday at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and is being distributed in the United States this summer by Cinema Guild -- in which the camera captures the city through the backseat of a cab. The small screen attached to the back of the driver's seat plays news footage of the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. But the image is upside down. The shot drolly observes Macau's new identity as a Chinese city.

The splashy color-saturated drink menu at OShan Island could easily leave you wondering exactly how the small cafe fits into San Gabriel's food-mad culinary scene. With 123 beverages on the list, is the place merely another refreshment depot hooking its fortunes to the aging boba trend? But a better indicator is the sign outside announcing Hainan chicken, meaning you've found a rare authentic kitchen serving the food of this Chinese island province. The velvety poached bird, a comfort food favorite everywhere in Asia, is as ubiquitous there (and in this neighborhood)

An 18th century Chinese bowl fetched a record $9.5 million at a Sotheby's auction. The Ruby-Ground Double-Lotus "falangcai" bowl sold Monday to Hong Kong antiques dealer William Chak after 11 bids. The price surpassed pre-sale estimates of about $9 million to set the record for Chinese Kangxi ceramics. The Qing Dynasty bowl wrapped in lotus flowers is thought to be one of the earliest imperial ceramics made with Western enameling techniques. ART: Can you guess the high price?

BEIJING - China's one-child policy, sterilization and Japan-Sino relations are just some of the raw, real-life subjects tackled in a cluster of controversial independent Chinese films screening at the 37th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). The festival, which kicks off Sunday and ends on April 2, features 306 feature films and shorts from 68 countries and regions. They range from the world premiere of Herman Yau's "Ip Man: The Final Fight" to the closing-night film, "Closed Curtain," directed by Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi.