Dude, don’t let this recession thing get you down. It’s not as bad as The Man is making it seem. Think about it—no one cares anymore and you can finally wear sweatpants to work! And that’s just the start. You gotta look at the recession not as a scary thing, but a lifeline coming to save you! Embrace the Big R.

These eight people quit the rat race to live their dreams. By HK Staff.

Everybody has a dream. You have one, your vegetable hawker has one and your helper certainly has one, too. But only a few people are willing to give everything up to pursue it.

The financial crisis has hit the contemporary Asian art market. John Robertson asks why serious art buffs are smiling.

The night Obama won the election, I received at least a half-dozen phone-calls barking about the outcome with utter disdain and disbelief. I was inundated with furious responses from several local scholars, a few doctors and solicitors, and believe it or not, at least one legislative councilor.

Is it just scaremongering, or are a third of our restaurants about to go bust? Lynn Fung examines who will be the worst hit by the upcoming recession.

Winter nights are perfect for something earthy and pungent, and Via Quadronno is offering just the thing: a cheese and mushroom five-course dinner with porcini and chiodini mushrooms, fontina, parmesan, gorgonzola and goat cheese (above). It’s priced at $1,288 for two, but you can get 40 percent off just by showing them a copy of this magazine.

The buzz: Island Restaurant—the Chinese eatery at the long-gone Furama Hotel—is back, with a new name, and a swanky new look courtesy of Sir David Tang.

The third and final part of Alicia Walker’s overland journey from Hong Kong to Liverpool.

A quick guide on how to keep your skin dewy and glowing as dry weather hits the city. By HK Staff.

Waxing Tracks - Wax Tailor, the French radio host turned hip-hop producer, waxes musical in a concert hosted by the Alliance Française to open this year’s Cinepanorama Film Festival.

Jazz Up: Sadao Watanabe Group - The Japanese jazz saxophonist blends the music of various countries, including Brazil and Africa. $75-$400 from Urbtix. Wed, Nov 26, 8pm. City Hall, 5 Edinburgh Place, Central.

Peak Performance

Hong Kong Ice Hockey League - First Division games every Thursday night. Mega Ice, Megabox, 5 Wang Chiu Rd., Kowloon Bay.

Faces To Figures - Malaysian artist Charles Cham
experiments with the “duality of life” in his double-face images.

While at Kee Club, I chanced upon an old friend who has sort of retired from partying. He graciously offered to buy me a beverage, and not wanting to drink more Veuve, I opted for an Amaretto Sour. Grazie. The old friend confessed candidly that when he reads my column these days, he doesn’t know who the characters I’m referring to are when I bitch-please them.

The buzz: That empty floor sandwiched by restaurants Tru and Tuscany by H in Lan Kwai has finally turned into—surprise, surprise—a club. The name “Yilou” is actually the Mandarin pronunciation for “first floor.”

Double Trouble Drafus and Ken Yu - The duo’s monthly act has some explosive dance music for y’all. Free entry for all on guest list before midnight, $200 (includes a drink) for non-members after midnight.

Taiwanese director Wei Te-Sheng’s new film may have garnered multiple nominations at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards by fusing arthouse sensibilities with a melodramatic love story, but overall, the film is unoriginal with multiple hackneyed if touching subplots. Often sloppy, random and haphazard, Cape No.

He may be a 17-year-old student but Yi Wei is a master already—a master of the famous Rubik’s Cube. He can solve a 3x3 puzzle in just 12 seconds and is so good that he recently represented Hong Kong in the 2008 Asian Rubik’s Championship. He talks to June Ng.

Mathias Woo is a prominent commentator and the director of local avant-garde art group Zuni Icosacheon, with theater productions that range from historical dramas such as “1587, A Year of No Significance” to political satires, including his popular “East Wing West Wing” series.

I am a straight, crossdressing male into bondage. That’s NOT my problem. Recently, I began seeing a professional Dominatrix for forced crossdressing, among other things. She was great, but our last session ended abruptly when She told me that She wanted to start dildo training me. I was all for it, but I asked Her, politely, if She could use my dildo.