Chef Gordon Ramsay is known for his “Kitchen Nightmares” TV series in which he tries to rescue struggling restaurants across the US
Now he is being subjected to his own bad dream after starring in an ad for a South Korean beer that some on Twitter have called “bottom-shelf swill,” “less than great” and “a beer known for blandness.”
Several ads posted on Cass beer’s YouTube channel feature Ramsay drinking the alcoholic beverage while in a Korean restaurant.
In one ad, Ramsay takes a bite of some pork belly and says: “A little bit oily, right, but blend it with this beer and all of a sudden that oiliness goes, and you’ve got that fresh and crispness, it’s delicious.” The spot ends with Ramsay taking a swig of Cass and stating: “Bloody fresh.”
One Twitter user stated: “Internet, I will provide 20,000 won (S$24.80) for conclusive proof that Gordon Ramsay was a Cass drinker before he started endorsing it. Please retweet.”
Ramsay spoke at a press conference in Seoul on Saturday to promote his involvement with the beer. “The authenticity of Korean food with the number one beer for me felt like a perfect match. It’s by far the freshest, coolest… and also in these difficult times, with the economy in recession, it is a beer that can easily be bought and have some fun with. It’s not pretentious,” he said, according to the Korea Herald.
“(Cass is) something I drank before the call (for the endorsement) came in. When I have Korean food, I don’t look for a wine list with the most expensive beer to go with it,” he added.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns Cass, says it is the number one beer brand in South Korea. It has a “crisp and refreshing taste,” the brewer states on its website and suggests that it goes well with spicy food, Korean barbecue and fried chicken.
In a statement emailed to CNBC by AB InBev’s global director of external communications Europe Peter Dercon, Ramsay said that beer preference is about personal taste. “Beer is something you drink as you like. I prefer beers that get along well with the taste of foods,” he said, adding that light lager is a good match for strong-tasting Korean food.
The brewer bought South Korea’s Oriental Breweries, parent company of Cass, for US$5.8 billion (S$7.8 billion) in 2014.
LOS ANGELES – Kendall Jenner topped a list on Tuesday (Nov 21) of the world’s highest paid models, edging Gisele Bundchen out of the No. 1 spot for the first time in 15 years in a ranking that reflected the growing power of social media influencers.
Ashley Graham became the first plus-size woman to make the annual Forbes list of top earning models, ranked in 10th place with an estimated income of US$5.5 million (S$7.4 million) between June 1, 2016, and June 1, 2017.
Jenner, 22, the half sister of Kim Kardashian, earned an estimated US$22 million for the year thanks both to her runway fashion jobs and an 84-million-strong Instagram following that helped her launch her own clothing line and win deals with the likes of Adidas and Estee Lauder, Forbes said.
Chrissy Teigen joined the Forbes list for the first time, taking the no.3 spot with estimated earnings of US$13.5 million. Teigen, 31, the wife of singer John Legend, is also prolific on Twitter and Instagram and has deals with brands like Smirnoff to boost her earnings from fashion.
Graham, 30, an outspoken advocate for body activism, in 2016 became the first size 16 model to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Her fashion lines with Dressbarn, H&M and Swimsuits For All helped get her on the Forbes list for the first time in her 16-year modeling career.
“With social media, there are more opportunities to create your own content and use your voice,” Ivan Bart, president of IMG Models told Forbes. “The stars are using it.”
Forbes said that the world’s 10 highest-paid models banked a cumulative US$109.5 million for the year, before taxes and fees. It estimated earnings from income from cosmetics, fragrance and other contracts based on interviews with managers, agents and brand executives.
The 5 most well-paid Asians in Forbes’ list of highest paid celebrities
A popular concept cafe from Japan is here in Singapore. Hint: you’ll get to dine with lots of yellow, small and cylindrical characters.
Yes, you guessed right, The Minions have finally invaded our little red dot.
Operated as “The Despicable Me 3 Cafe” in Japan at five “THE GUEST cafe&diner” outlets from July to September this year, the cafe will be having its very first concept pop-up outside of Japan.
Reincarnated as the MINIONS CAFE, it will be located at Orchard Central. From Nov 23, 2017 to Jan 31, 2018, fans of the Illumination and Universal movie, “Despicable Me 3”, can head there for delectable themed food and drinks.
Inspired by the characters and stories from “Despicable Me 3”, the 14 items on the menu include S’mores and Minion’s Ice Cream and Up-side-down Minion Jelly Soda Drink. Sounds yummy already!
If you’re not much of a foodie, MINIONS CAFE Original Goods and other official “Despicable Me 3” merchandises are available for purchase too.
Before it officially opens on Nov 23 to the public, we will be checking it out. So stay tuned for updates!
Where: Orchard Central Level 3
When: Nov 23 2017 to Jan 31 2018
Info: THE GUEST cafe&diner
This article was first published on Her World Online
SINGAPORE: The first pop-up Minions Cafe outside of Japan will open on the third floor of Orchard Central from Wednesday (Nov 23) until Jan 31, 2018.
The Minions are small, yellow cylindrical signature characters from the popular Despicable Me series.
The pop-up stores, operated by The Guest cafe, opened at five locations in Japan earlier this year to celebrate the premiere of Despicable Me 3.
The outlets have opened in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka, and the latest one at Orchard Central will be the first store outside of Japan.
Visitors to the Singapore store can choose from 14 food and beverage items on the menu, all of which are inspired by the iconic movie characters.
The cafes in Japan featured items such as Minion’s Great Escape Cream Stew, S’more & Minion’s Ice Cream, Despicable Me Curry, Minions Cafe Purin (mango pudding), and Minion Jelly Sodas.
(Photos: Facebook/The Guest cafe)
Visitors can also purchase Minions Cafe products and other official Despicable Me 3 merchandise at the pop-up cafe in Singapore.
The couple has always been open about wanting to have another child. In an interview with E! In July she shared, “I cannot wait to have the biggest family.”
Chrissy has also been vocal about her experience with postpartum depression. She shared her experience in an essay for Glamour, “I have postpartum depression. How can I feel this way when everything is so great? I’ve had a hard time coming to terms with that, and I hesitated to even talk about this, as everything becomes such a ‘thing.'”
Despite having gone through that, she’s ready to add another member to their family. Congratulations, Chrissy and John!
SINGAPORE: Limited-edition coins will be released next year to mark the Year of the Dog, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Wednesday (Nov 22).
The coins, which will be issued from Jan 5, will feature the dog with the Singapore Botanic Gardens in the background, said MAS. They will also be available in 10 different versions, including a 1kg rectangular coin with a face value of S$80 minted on 999 silver. Special premium sets consisting of various coin combinations will also be available.
A silver proof-like coin weighing 1kg. (Image: MAS)
The reverse side of the coins bear the Singapore Coat of Arms with the year 2018.
Members of the public can buy the coins at the Singapore Mint at www.singaporemint.com. Orders close on Dec 15 and balloting will be conducted if demand exceeds supply, MAS said.
SEOUL – Dramatic footage of a North Korean soldier’s defection released Wednesday (Nov 22) showed him racing across the border under fire from former comrades, and then being hauled to safety by South Korean troops.
The defector, who ran across the border at the Panmunjom truce village on Nov 13, was shot at least four times and has been recovering in a South Korean hospital.
The footage released by the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) showed one soldier pursuing him across the military demarcation line (MDL) for several metres, before hesitating and turning back to the North.
The badly injured defector was then pulled to safety by three South Korean soldiers who crawled to reach him just south of the dividing line. The footage end with North Korean soldiers dispersing from the scene following the incident.
It is very rare for the North’s troops to defect at Panmunjom, a major tourist attraction and the only part of the border where forces from the two sides come face-to-face.
Caught on video: North Korea defector’s border dash
The footage began by showing the defector’s vehicle travelling at speed along an empty road leading to the truce village before stopping near the heavily armed border.
He then got out of the jeep and ran, pursued by North Korean soldiers with their weapons drawn and firing.
UNC spokesman Colonel Chad Carroll told journalists that the footage showed one of the border guards “run across the MDL a few seconds before returning back to the north side of Panmunjom”.
The UNC has “requested a meeting to discuss our investigation and measures to prevent future such violations,” he added of the incursion which contravenes a 1953 armistice agreement.
The UNC has conducted a “thorough” investigation of the incident, he said.
“The key findings of the special investigation team are that the KPA (North Korean army) violated the armistice agreement by 1) by firing weapons across the MDL and 2) by actually crossing the MDL temporarily,” he added.
About two years ago, Singaporean singer-songwriter Stefanie Sun picked up painting. It was part of the national movement, called SkillsFuture, which provides Singaporeans aged 25 and above with an initial $500 of SkillsFuture Credit to develop their potential.
Sun went to study painting at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and has not stopped since then.
“Painting is like meditation. When you finish something pretty, you feel a sense of accomplishment. Music is a kind of audio art, but I am a very visual person. When I listen to a song, I think of pictures and colors,” says Sun, 39.
Painting also inspired her to look at music in a different way. In her new album, A Dancing Van Gogh, Sun focuses on the Dutch painter.
“He had a dramatic life, cutting off his left ear, shooting himself and was little known to the art world until the time of his death,” says Sun in Beijing while promoting her new album.
“He was crazy but his unswerving devotion to his art made him one of the greatest heroes of the art world.”
In the title song, A Dancing Van Gogh, Sun portrays a world of darkness with her firm voice to the accompaniment of symphony orchestra, which is not a typical music style for her.
In her 17-year-long career, the singer has released 13 full-length albums and built up a large fan base in Asia thanks to her heartfelt love ballads.
“A Dancing Van Gogh is considered as a departure of me because of the different music style and my way of singing. But everyone has a darker side, although we are always encouraged to pursue the bright side in our lives,” says Sun.
She also wrote lyrics for the last song in the album, titled Immense Beauty, in which she sings “finally we get together in the wheat field, immense beauty and celebration”.
“I dedicate this song to Van Gogh’s Wheat Field series. I felt like it’s beautiful to sing these lyrics, which are not only about darkness but also hope. It’s a sense of closure for the album,” says Sun.
The singer, who was born in Singapore and started learning piano at 5, wrote her first song, Someone, while studying at Nanyang Technological University.
She then joined a music school founded by brothers Paul and Peter Lee, both Taiwan-based songwriters and producers. In 2000, she released her self-titled album, which was an instant success.
At a recent news conference in Beijing, Paul and Peter Lee showed up, which made Sun cry.
“I remember that first time we met in the school and she was just a young girl. Now, she is all grown up and clearly knows what she wants,” says Paul Lee.
Sun says: “They have been my mentors for about 20 years and it’s really touching to have them with me for so many years.” The brothers are the producers of Sun’s new album.
“Looking back, it’s quite like a dream. I am a little bit overwhelmed. Music has always been a big part of my life. I have been doing concerts in my bathroom since I was young, envisioning everything I have now,” says Sun. “And as long as I enjoy the process, I will go for it. Music is food for soul.”
In 2011, Sun married her Dutch-Indonesian boyfriend, Nadim van der Ros, and one year later, she gave birth to a son.
She then kept a low profile until returning to the limelight with her album, Kepler, in 2014, which was followed by an 18-month-long tour.
“Motherhood changed me. When you are single, you have all the time in the world but now you have to take care of him,” says Sun. “I do sing for him before bedtime and sneak out after he falls asleep.”
The song, Rainbow Bot, which released in 2016, was dedicated to her son.
SINGAPORE: Some might expect a computer-savvy millennial like Mr Winston Ho, 23, to be an early adopter of electronic payment services on his smartphone.
But the president of the Singapore Management University’s Whitehat Society, a group of ethical hackers, is paranoid about downloading e-wallet apps or any app linked to credit card or bank accounts. He prefers to stick to cash transactions mostly.
His concern, which he and fellow committee member Wan Ding Yao shared with current affairs programme Talking Point, is that untrusted apps and phishing SMSes are giving hackers easier access to phones as e-payments grow in popularity. (Watch the episode here.)
Said Mr Wan:
We were experimenting with some of the e-wallet apps from some of our local banks, and we found out that some of the security measures put in place were not foolproof.
While many people believe that passwords, two-step verification and fingerprint recognition on some e-wallet apps may be enough to stop cybercriminals, the duo are not convinced.
BEWARE FREE CREDITS, MONEY
The problem is that a hacker can fool a user into downloading a modified or disguised version of the e-wallet app – by promising free credits and money – which could be hiding hard-to-detect computer viruses like a Trojan, said Mr Wan.
“Who doesn’t want free money, right?” he added. “If you choose to install the programme and grant it all the permissions that you wouldn’t normally grant it, you’re letting a hacker gain access to your phone.”
The hacker could then retrieve data stored on the phone. And with such computer viruses, security measures such as passwords and thumbprints may be of little use, as hackers would still be able to intercept one’s SMSs, cautioned Mr Wan.
If you receive a one-time password, (the hacker) would be able to go into your phone – maybe at night when you’re sleeping so as not to raise any suspicions – and retrieve the OTP to authenticate (himself).
Installing an app from an untrusted source would usually prompt a warning to pop up on one’s phone – a warning one should heed, he advised, to reduce the risk of such attacks.
Mobile-payments company Liquid Group, however, argues that e-wallets are more secure than credit cards or cash, as they are equipped with features such as a password or a personal identification number.
The company’s chief executive officer Jeremy Tan said: “When you lose your card or cash, it’s essentially gone. Whereas your phone, the first order or the first assumption is that the app in your phone has a certain degree of security.”
He highlighted that consumers can track their transactions, and in the event of a fraud, the mobile payment company can trace the hacking.
Every single transfer is… trackable. So we tend to feel it’s very silly if (someone) tries to hack into a digital wallet and move things around or pay (money into) different accounts.
“For us to find you is, I’d say, instant,” he said.
DBS Bank, which launched e-wallet PayLah! in 2014 and allowed mobile QR code transactions this year, said that to protect its customers’ money, it has introduced biometric verification, the first in Singapore with a Touch ID login that uses a fingerprint to access the e-wallet.
DBS Bank, which launched e-wallet PayLah! in 2014, has introduced biometric verification. (Photo: DBS)
DBS head of cards and unsecured loans Anthony Seow also explained that customers can set a limit to how much money they want their e-wallet to hold.
“Let’s say you set it at $100. Then technically, (if) anybody has sent you, say, $300, only $100 would stay in there. The other $200 would go into your bank account,” he said.
‘FIRE DRILLS’ ON YOUR PHONE
Singapore has a mobile phone penetration rate of 150 per cent, the highest in Southeast Asia. But it seems that users are not doing enough to protect their phones from cyber threats.
According to a Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) survey, one in three Singaporeans do not have anti-virus software on their phones.
Crammed with personal and financial information, phones today have become a treasure trove of passwords, personal notes as well as credit card and log-on details. And the security stakes are growing.
File photo of a youth in Singapore using a mobile phone. (Photo: Francine Lim)
Cybercrimes here nearly doubled between 2014 and last year, rising from 7.9 to 13.7 per cent of all crimes, according to the inaugural Singapore Cyber Landscape report this year.
The CSA reported that 83 per cent of cybercrimes involved online cheating. Websites for banking and financial services were the most commonly spoofed, forming 31 per cent of phishing websites found last year. E-payment platform PayPal was also a popular target.
Mr Manjunath Bhat, a research director in Gartner’s mobile and client computing group, noted that few people even know what is inside their phones.
He suggests that consumers conduct “fire drills” on their phones so that they know what to do if they lose their device. To prepare for such a situation, one only has to let a partner hold on to the “lost” phone.
“What you do is find out how much of the information that you have on your phone is now accessible to somebody else,” he said.
“Think of it as: Can you cut off access to all the debit cards and credit cards as part of your digital wallet?”
He advises those who do lose their phone to put it in Lost Mode, which effectively disables the payment mechanisms. Alternatively, they could remotely reset the phone in this mode and wipe out the information inside.
DOES THE FACTORY RESET WORK?
But in a world of growing high-level fraud, does this delete all the data on the phone? And is a factory reset to purge a phone’s memory sufficient, given how frequently people sell or trade their unwanted devices?
In an experiment for Talking Point, mobile forensic expert Ali Fazeli took some phones that had gone through a factory reset and managed to extract some information from them, including an SMS, some photos and older apps.
His company Infinity Forensics helps organisations and individuals recover deleted data and conduct tests against cyberattacks.
Yet despite his forensic skills, he could not retrieve any genuinely sensitive material on the used phones, which means that a reset phone may not leave a digital imprint after all.
Still, for consumers, the key to keeping their phones safe is to be smart and vigilant as they move towards a cashless future.
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. New episodes air on Mediacorp Channel 5 every Thursday, 9.30pm.
PHUKET – Police have arrested a man for allegedly killing his girlfriend and stabbing her brother in Phuket.
The suspect Peeya Payae, 29, was in detention at Vachira Hospital on Tuesday, after allegedly killing his girlfriend by stabbing her in the head, stabbing her brother at another location and then jumping off Khao Rang Viewpoint in Phuket town in an apparent attempted suicide.
Police found the body of Anusara Musoh, 30, with severe wounds on the back of her head inside a room where she lived with Peeya.
Neighbours told police that they had heard an argument but did not pay any attention, as the couple had often fought in the past, until they heard the woman scream on Monday.
Peeya was then seen leaving the apartment and riding his motorbike away. People who heard the screams tried unsuccessfully to open the room and saw blood on the floor through a window.
They then broke in and called emergency services but the woman died before help arrived.
Shortly thereafter, police received another report about an injured man at a rented house about two kilometres away and found Rewet Tingnui, 26, who had been stabbed in his cheek.
Rewet said he was Anusara’s brother and had been attacked by Peeya.
Finally, another report was received that a man had jumped off Khao Rang Viewpoint and police found Peeya severely injured a few hundred metres down the hill.
HELPLINES
Samaritans of Singapore (SOS): 1800-2214444
Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-2837019
