Joanna Wang, Donut King and Bride Wannabes

Her voice... sounds so.. luxe..?

 

 

I remember watching videos she made in her bedroom but I didn't end up finding her real channel. Joanna Wang rocks my socks. My favourite song covered by her is Vincent.

Yesterday I had a hotdog, a milkshake and two cinnamon donuts at Donut King. HOLY CRAP, I've never eaten something that brings back so many memories. Haha. There was a Donut King in a Westfield across the road from my primary school.  I'm not sure if it's still there now, but M, K and I used to go there after ALOT. M would get us a hotdog + milkshake to share, and she would get herself 2 cinnamon donuts and a cappucino.  Donut King have the best strawberry milkshake. There's something about that artificial strawberry flavour (quite like the Nesquik strawberry milkshake powder). While I was drinking it yesterday, I was reminded of the way my sister and I used to viciously suck up as much milkshake as we could, gulping as fast as we could so there would be less for the other person. M would also never (NEVER EVER) get us the donuts with the hard icing.  But yeah, this is really irrelevant to Joanna Wang. I never realised that one of my greatest childhood memories was fighting with K to get the last bit of milkshake.

 

 

The me from ten years ago would have totally ruled out being friends with K. But I'm really glad I have a different opinion now, haha! 'She'll probably be my bestest friend for the rest of my life. Those of you without siblings, you're missing out on a helluva lot.  Alot of fighting, arguing and sibling deathglares (I'm really good at this one). But also alot of good times, great memories and super friends.

 

 

Damn you Donut King. Your milkshake full broke my shell.

 

 

Anyway, digressing to a more shallow topic...

Has anyone watched Bride Wannabes on TVB? Can I just say, REALITY CHECK!  Haha geez, this is such an insightful show into HK culture, society's beliefs and values.  So, because of my bizarre obsession with HK, it's tv shows, and it's people, I have (or at least I thought I did) a good idea of what life is/was like over there.

(I can already tell its a tl;dr post, but too bad, I genuinely thought it was an interesting topic)

Ok, so going back 20 years, from what my parents and aunt tell me, there were significantly more men than women, thus giving women more options when it came to 'choosing a husband'. Twenty years ago, women were not as educated as they are now, they weren't as well paid and they all had the general idea of settling down and having kids, being a housewife, etc. Even the barely educated woman could find herself a good (background wise) husband. Just basically, women were in high demand and they could have themselves "diw gow ley muy" (literal translation: driving up the prices- more than they are actually worth. Low supply, high demand - simple economics lol).  In order to impress women, men had to outperform each other and I guess the women could just  sit back and watch it all happen.

 

 

[To be honest, I think this has fostered the "gong joo beng" (princess syndrome) and "gong lui"s (HK girl syndrome) appearing in modern society.]

 

 

Fast forward 20 years, now there are more women than men, ALOT more.   Women are now more educated, have better jobs than they did in the past but apparently it's really hard to find their significant half because: a) there are fewer men than women, b) men have more options - seeking wives in the mainland, who do have have "gong joo beng" and are obviously not "gong lui"s. 

 

 

People normally get married around when they're in their mid twenties to early thirties. The "leftover" women, single women in their late twenties, early thirties is what this show is about.

 

 

That was one long introduction.

 

 

So Bride Wannabes feature 5 single women I described before in their journey to find their significant other half.  They undergo lessons from a life coach, love expert (you have to google Santino. I rofl'ed), beauty advisor, fashion stylist, make up artist and matchmaker in order to 'better' themselves and find a bf.

 

 

Normally, I would not spend time to watch a show like this (*cough*farmerwantsawife*) but I was so fascinated by this. If I had to move to HK permanently, I might even experience culture shock.  Even though I can speak the same language and I watch all their cop dramas, I know very little of anything else, and this show was just a really good glimpse of what life is like over there. Asia is considered conservative, I guess, and so I think a reality show like this broadcasting on television is really rare. 

From Flickr- K-ideas.

Here's to summarising 10 episodes:

 

 

1) 30 year old divorced woman, Gobby (ugh Asian English names), ends up getting a bit of cosmetic surgery, and lots of confidence boosting sessions to improve her marketability.

2) 29 year old Bonnie is taught to un-cute-ify herself (GOD YES, someone finally points out there's something wrong with excessive cute-ness) and be more "real". She's a bit of a tomboy and is often seen as 'one of the guys'. I thought she was perfectly fine, but the show taught her how to look prettier and act more lady without taking any drastic measures. So.. she is ok. I think she's a radio host or something now. Not sure.

 

 

3) 28 year old Suki had just gotten out of a 5 year relationship with her ex and was losing hope of getting married. I had a problem comprehending this. Imo, it's ok to break tradition. You don't have to get married. Women had to get married in the past because they didn't have any means of supporting themselves, but that's obviously not the case nowadays. But anyway, three episodes into the series, she quits because she's already found a guy.

 

 

4) 39 year old Florence has been in one relationship during her whole life. She claims he was the love of her life before long distance got in the way, and a third person also appeared in the relationship. She only wants a guy who is 6 foot, younger than her, and loves her for who she is. At first, she refuses to get any cosmetic surgery and yeahhhh. I felt a bit bad for her. Everytime the matchmaker tried to pair her up with some guy, she would complain about their age, or their boringness or their lack of physical attraction. When I was watching this, I couldn't help but mutter alot to myself. "lack of physical attraction? girl, have you looked in the mirror today?!" "lady, you want to find a guy younger than you, with better looks, genuine and funny? you might find him, but I'm sure he's not looking for you". My point is just, if you're looking for Mr Right, you have to look past all that physical stuff, and you have to like the guy for who he really is, and not for his physical attributes. So yeah, she's a hypocrite and totally pissed me off towards the end.

 

 

5) Mandy (age undisclosed- but I'm guessing similar to Florence) is a strong independent woman who was looking for a life partner. When you look at her, you see nothing but STRENGTH! Haha, and I guess there aren't many guys who want a woman to rule in a relationship. She also quit before the show finished, but while she was on it, I had nothing bad to say about her.



Another thing which made me think "wtf" was what the men said in the show. Well, in particular, just this one guy. He was 39 and was paired up with Florence. Florence had finally found someone who met her criteria, but unfortunately for her, she didn't meet his. What he said really pissed me off because he was such an arrogant bastard. Something along the lines of, he does gym, and he's gone out with alot of women in the past. He thinks he's in good shape now and thinks Florence is too old (wth, same age bro!) for him. He also mentions that he's dated models and would like to date a Leng Mo. HA. HA. HA. LENGMO?!  Even if you're thinking it, don't say it out loud. Leng Mo's only like Edison :P

Cammi Tse- Teen Leng Mo. Blogged about her here.

In conclusion, this show made me rethink my wish to work overseas. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd still love to work there for a few years, but for the rest of my life? I don't know if I'd be able to handle it.  It made me appreciate the society we live in. Western culture seems to be more accomodating, more forgiving and definitely more relaxed. To me, it's less pretentious, image is not everything in Western culture. Maybe I'm just naíve but that's just my opinion right now. For those who read all the way down to here, care to express your opinion? I find that when I'm on a spiel, I tend to think one-sided only and .. yeah. Would be nice to hear some other opinions. :)

Such a long post. This makes me feel like a tv junkie. I promise I was only watching during my sleeping time and I got up at 9 today. I'll end it here. Hope everyone enjoyed the nice weather today :)