Jamie Oliver’s Cantonese draws giggles
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Hong Kong fans of British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver fell about laughing after he announced a new Italian restaurant for the city in Cantonese - with a few slip-ups.
Making a stab at the local Chinese dialect in a light-hearted YouTube video, he announces: ‘‘I will open an amazing Italian submarine.’’
Attempting to repeat words read out by a Cantonese-speaker off-screen, he also promises that the restaurant will be ‘‘very slippery’’, before collapsing into giggles.
The video has drawn more than 35,000 hits since it was posted on Tuesday.
Oliver, 38, has a string of restaurants in Britain, Australia, Dubai, Ireland, Russia, Turkey and Singapore.
He is set to open the first Hong Kong branch of his ‘‘Jamie’s Italian’’ chain in the city’s Causeway Bay shopping district in the coming months.
His first attempt to say ‘‘Causeway Bay’’ in Cantonese came out as ‘‘car crash’’, while the second sounded like ‘‘bronze bed’’.
The video nonetheless delighted local fans.
‘‘Jamie Oliver speaks Cantonese! So funny!’’ wrote Christy Lui in one comment posted below the video, while others called him ‘‘adorable’’ and welcomed him to the city.
‘‘Hong Kong people like your Cantonese! But they like you even better,’’ wrote Cheng Dai Hup.
Oliver’s first attempt to open a restaurant in Hong Kong fell through in 2009.
Known for his crusades against unhealthy food, Oliver’s restaurants, TV series and cookbooks have made him a multi-millionaire.
AFP
West to wed Kardashian on May 24
Rapper Kanye West will tie the knot with fiancee Kim Kardashian in Paris on May 24, according to a report.
The Stronger star proposed to the reality TV beauty in extravagant fashion on her 33rd birthday in October, and they previously revealed plans to exchange vows in the City of Love, branding it their ‘‘second home’’.
They even toured the Palace of Versailles, sparking rumours the royal chateau would serve as their wedding venue, although those claims were subsequently denied by officials at the historic French landmark.
Now editors at Us Weekly magazine claim the couple will wed in Paris in May.
Further details have yet to be revealed, but Kardashian recently admitted she will be shunning a big ceremony in favour of a ‘‘super, super small, intimate’’ celebration.
Kardashian has been married twice before - she eloped with music producer Damon Thomas in 2000, when she was just 19, and famously ended her second union, to basketball player Kris Humphries, in October 2011 after just 72 days of marriage.
Their divorce was finalised weeks before she welcomed baby girl North with West last northern summer.
WENN
Fey got dialect coach for Muppets role
Tina Fey worked with a dialect coach to perfect her Russian accent for her new film Muppets Most Wanted.
The former 30 Rock star, who plays a Russian government agent in the puppet parody, did not take her role lightly. When she started to struggle with her accent, she agreed to work with an expert.
‘‘They (producers) brought this wonderful woman named Jill, who is like a real dialect coach, this British woman who works with like Keira Knightley.’’
The coach, Fey says, imparted some important advice: ‘‘When you go to do it, it’s actually really hard, the Russian, and she told me the tip to remember: ’You’re supposed to (act like) you have a piece of poop on your lip, that you want to get this piece of poop off your lip, that you hate everything.’’’
Fey took the advice to heart: ‘‘So I was thinking, ’I have this piece of poop on my lip’, and I was trying super hard and I think I did pretty good.’’
Muppets Most Wanted is due to open in Australia in April.
WENN
Oprah takes Lohan to task
Oprah Winfrey has given Lindsay Lohan a dressing down in the first episode of her new reality show.
The talk show queen told Lohan to ‘‘cut the bullsememt’’ after she discovered the tardy actress has been delaying production.
The Mean Girls star signed up to make an eight-part documentary series for Winfrey’s OWN network following their candid interview when Lohan left rehab last year.
The show is scheduled to air in the US this month, but a newly-released trailer reveals how close Winfrey came to shutting down the project after hearing about Lohan’s failure to stick to filming rules.
The chat show legend visits the 27 year old at her New York City apartment to lay down the law, telling her, ‘‘My truth is that I really do want you to win, I really do. If that isn’t what you want, I’m OK with that. I will tell (the crew) to pack up and leave today. You need to cut the bullsememt.
You really do.’’The footage also features Lohan crying and demanding the crew delete an entire day’s worth of filming, and she is shown in a face-off with her father Michael Lohan.
The series, entitled Lindsay, will begin airing on Sunday.
WENN
Kingston dodged $8k bar tab
R&B star Sean Kingston has been confronted by police in the Dominican Republic after a misunderstanding with club bosses over an $US8,771 ($A9,791.25) bar tab.
The Beautiful Girls star was partying with friends at Euphoria on Saturday, when venue managers told the star they would ‘‘take care of’’ him during his stay at the club.
According to TMZ.com, Kingston thought the welcome message meant he was being given complimentary drinks for his group all night, and they took advantage of the offer by racking up a hefty bill before leaving - only for cops to track him down on Sunday and threaten to detain him if he failed to pay up.
The singer, 24, reportedly apologised profusely for the miscommunication and returned to Euphoria to settle the debt.
Kingston has yet to comment on the incident, but he took to Twitter on Monday and expressed his thanks for his good fortune, writing, ‘‘Today be Thankful and think how RICH YOU ARE. your FAMILY is PRICELESS, Your Time Is GOLD And Your HEALTH IS WEALTH!’’
WENN