It is with great regret that we make this announcement. Due to the recent economic downturn, Christmas will officially be cancelled in Hong Kong this year until further notice.

The HK Staff get to the bottom of Hong Kong’s high seas.

If a serious terrorist attack hits Hong Kong, do you think the SAR government could cope with it as well as India did? Not quite, considering the crisis management mess the government made of the much-delayed chartered flights sent to Bangkok to pick up a few hundred stranded Hong Kong tourists.

Even our gods aren’t spared from our relentless urban redevelopment, writes June Ng.

The annual Arts Festival is back and better than ever. Priscilla Man and Julianne Chou check out the highlights for 2009.

Sick of synthetic supplements, Pavan Shamdasani gets back to nature. Yea, yea, hippies suck—but they’re right about one thing: natural supplements. Drugs that can make you bigger, stronger, faster, all in a completely organic way.

As the world crumbles around us, why not forget your troubles and jump back to the coolest eras ever with these groovy gadgets, asks Pavan Shamdasani.

Tokyoflash Barcode

Lynn Fung on decidedly different yuletide meals.

The buzz: The El Grande group did family-friendly Italian well with Grappa’s, then Italian food in a can with Spuntini, and this is their latest: high-end Italian manned by Mauro Uliassi, whose eponymous restaurant in Italy has received numerous accolades, include some star-shaped ones from the picky Michelin men.

Two new exciting openings this week: the super-popular En Group (Zenpachi, Chura, En Japanese Dining Bar, etc.) has finally expanded into Central. En Grill and Bar is in Lan Kwai, and is serving grilled items (saga beef, pork neck, goose liver), and unique dishes such as raw Saga beef with grated cheese and mayo, and Okinawa-style spicy taco sauce on rice.

The Philippines offers a host of indulgent retreats at reasonable prices, if you know where to look. By HK Staff.

This week we bring you the latest cheap deals to Singapore and Europe, and a (budget) luxury trip to the biggest and most lavish resort in the Middle East.

Robot’s turning ten! Ten years of cool events, hot beats and plenty of cardboard machines. The team behind Clockenflap are celebrating the decade in style, at the grimiest, grittiest venue with the filthiest beats: Sammi Kitchen.

De Waart’s Mahler Cycle: The Ninth - Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. $81-$480 from Urbtix. Fri-Sat, Dec 5-6, 8pm. Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui.

AVOHK NB Reservoir Cup Race 2 - The second race of the Athletic Veterans of Hong Kong’s Reservoir Series takes place at Tai Lam Chung Reservoir. Dec 7, 9am.

Homee - Six local female artists reflect on their current identities through paintings. Opening Dec 6, 6pm. Through Dec 27. Edge Gallery, G/F, 60C Leighton Rd., Causeway Bay

I went to see Kylie. It was like a pilgrimage. Everyone was on the Airport Express, and the aisle was like a runway, with everybody doing the catwalk and blowing air kisses.

Starz Angels - The sizzling DJ duo have been evolving with talent in their respective universes, setting Paris, London, Marrakech and Porto on fire with their electro-house rhythms flavored with hip-hop flows. RSVP. $200 for non-members.

The buzz: The most sophisticatedly ostentatious bar lounge in Hong Kong, inspired by the opulent private residences of 1930s Shanghai celebutante “Madame Ning.” It’s retroluxe at it’s finest, and the eagerly awaited lounge puts the Pen squarely back on the Kowloon-side bar map.

Comparisons are inevitable: a cult book turned film, themes of disaffected yuppiedom and post-millennial malaise, an author accused of repeating one single stagnant style over and over.

Tomoyuki Takimoto’s “Ikigami” aims to leave its audience members with a deeper respect and appreciation for life. Based on the popular comic by Motoro Mase, it features three stories centered on young, premature deaths, meant to prompt viewers to get off their Manga-obsessed asses and do something with themselves before it’s too late.

Joey Leung is one of the best-known theater actors in Hong Kong. His wildly popular act “Queer Show” has run four times in two years, earning him numerous awards as a comedy actor. He talks to June Ng about the insecurity of his profession, and why life can sometimes be easier when lived in the closet.

The woman behind the most expensive soy sauce in Hong Kong, Mrs. Tsang sells her superb brew for a whopping $125 per bottle. But this isn’t any secret family recipe; Mrs. Tsang earned a degree in chemistry in 1954 and runs an 85,000-square-foot factory in Yuen Long.

My girlfriend and I have been on-and-off for almost two years. I took her back after she cheated on me. The only thing now is that she wants to have a threesome. I am really not down with sharing her, but I am willing to do it because otherwise some other girl will do it for her. I told her that I want to be stoned when it happens, because I don’t think I can handle it sober.