The National Enquirer reports that 72 year old actor Morgan Freeman is marrying his 27 year old step-granddaughter. I think this makes Woody Allen look like a saint by comparison.

Something else I wanna mention and should develop more thoroughly but here’s just a quick thing on it ….. Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” opens in the US today. It looks outrageous and funny and of course I want to see it. I’m a huge fan. Cohen has now made feature films with all three of his best known TV characters – Ali G, Borat and now Bruno.

Ali G of course was a completely fictional film set in the UK. But with both Borat and Bruno, Cohen (and director Larry Charles) are out to use a faux documentary format to throw a spotlight onto prejudices that by all rights should no longer exist.

But the thing is, Cohen is British and the characters were originally developed for UK TV. So why are these two films set in America? Is it merely a commercial consideration – by setting the film in the UK it would not do as much box office in the US? Or is there something else, something more? Does he see something in the “character” of Americans that he doesn’t see in Britons?

Just curious.

iPhone just delivered. Gotta go play.

A letter in the SCMP this morning from James Griffiths of Kennedy Town commences with the line, “I write to express my frustration at the smoking ban that is now in force in all bars in Hong Kong. ” As a smoker myself, I can understand his frustration. For almost 2 weeks now, I have been forced to spend almost 30 seconds walking from my bar stool to the exit, to stand on the street by myself watching pretty girls walk past or striking up conversations with other smokers for several minutes while feeding my incessant nicotine addiction. The horror!

Mr. Griffith says, “I am a smoker and I know the risks involved. However, we live in a democracy (or a kind of democracy), where we can choose what to do as long as it does not affect or impact others around us.” I wonder if he was drunk when writing that section?

“Why not give an option to bars to be smoking establishments. Perhaps a few of these bars could be designated in different parts of the city and they could pay a fee. ” Think this through, James. Let’s say there are 1,000 bars on HK island. Let’s say the government decides to issue 50 licenses for smoking establishments. The 950 bars that don’t get a license will surely not mind. They’ll just quietly accept this and go about their business, won’t they? And most of these bars serve food as well, but the surrounding 5,000 restaurants won’t complain about any inequity either, right?

I have no doubt that any bar or restaurant that could legally allow smoking would be extremely popular. But I don’t think the owners of these places want the government to be able to choose which ones of them are allowed to sanction smoking and which ones don’t. And I wouldn’t want that either. It’s all or nothing at all as far as I’m concerned. It has to be a situation where there is either no choice or the choice is left up to the owner of the establishment. That is what you get in a “kind of democracy.”

Mr. Griffiths says he will now stay home to drink and smoke, rather than going out. And then this bit: “This is a shame, because when I go out I spend at least HK$1,000 in a bar, maybe another HK$500 on food and HK$50 on taxis. ” He spends $1,000 in a bar in a single evening just on drink? Assuming for the moment that money isn’t being spent on commission drinks for women in Wanchai bars, he thinks his biggest problem is that he can’t smoke in a bar? I think his liver must be happy for the vacation it’s now getting.

In all seriousness, as a heavy smoker who has tried to quit unsuccessfully many times, the first thing I know is not to force my smoke on others. Secondhand smoke or not, I know that most non-smokers find it objectionable.

The second thing I know is that this ban will eventually be all but global and is not likely to be rolled back in Hong Kong or anywhere else. I don’t think that arguing that the ban is inconvenient is likely to change anyone’s mind. And I suspect that if Mr. Griffiths does indeed spend so much in a single night in a bar, he’s not permanently going to switch to doing all his drinking at home. Give him a couple of weeks and he’ll be right back out there again.

Let’s just be thankful that we don’t live in places like certain counties in California where even smoking at home – if you live in an apartment building – is illegal!

Okay, iPhone 3GS is online at Apple HK store now – $5,388 for 16 gig, $6,288 for 32 gig, unlocked, no contract required. What to do, what to do?

Yeah, I know the upgrade prices from 3 for the iPhone 3GS are every bit as insane as they are for AT&T in the US – and even a little bit more so, because 3 is charging different prices to users depending on which monthly service plan they’re on. And yet, crazy me, I believe that one is being delivered to my office Friday afternoon.

The following photos taken from the roof deck of the car park at the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre or whatever it’s called. Pretty much your standard ranch stash and these are taken from the JPGs as I don’t have the energy to play with Lightroom tonight.

The reason I was there? A good friend whose taste in food I trust 1,000% is now at the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel and insisted that I should try their Italian restaurant, Cucina.

Here’s a thing of beauty – their veal chop. This may well be the best veal chop I’ve ever eaten. In the background you can see truffle mashed potatoes – I’m told that last week a New York-based food critic said these were the best mashed potatoes he’s had in his entire life, and I think I could say the same.

All of the desserts are deconstructed oddities with so many ingredients that I can’t recall any of them. This one is called “bubble tea.”

And “mango,” the one I had. (That’s not a banana in the center, it’s some kind of pudding or custard.)

I am gonna have to go back there soon, not just because I enjoyed this meal so damned much but because of something else I spotted on the menu. Unless memory completely fails me, it was pork belly basted in apple cider and slow roasted for 72 hours. It’s only available on Fridays and I am certain my gf will go gonzo for it.

So, anyway, Cucina is immediately adjacent to the car park deck, which means an amazing view from the restaurant and then just step outside for even more. Lots of people go up there and line up with cameras on tripods to shoot the 8 PM light show and just the view in general. Naturally I wasn’t carrying my tripod but couldn’t resist taking some shots. In order to be able to shoot handheld, 1/30th of a second, ISO got boosted up to 1600. So just one of many, taken from the JPG, not the RAW file, but you get the idea. I think I’ll be back there again, with tripod, next time there’s a clear night AND I feel up to dealing with TST traffic.

Almost forgot … given the time of year, lots of high school students (or their parents?) rented out some of the private function rooms at the hotel for graduation parties. The women were all done up, make-up and hair as if for wedding photos, formal-ish dresses that mostly were short, not long. And I guess they’re legal age and many of them looked so damned hot but they also looked so young. No, I didn’t stand around in the hallway trying to take pictures of them. I just smiled watching them having so much fun on their big night.