Whatnot Lite

A problem I find with the major Chinese entertainment magazines in Hong Kong is that they either put too much coverage on love/hate buzz between semi-celebs I find as hard to believe as to develop curiosity in, or they waste manpower reporting on our city's "social issues", most of which, apparently, have to do with teenage prostitution, sexual activities in public places, Internet porn, and the like.

With that said, I still have the habit of flipping through one or two of those magazines from time to time.

Recently, I've noticed in these magazines a flood of weight loss articles and ads. Dieting and exercising are regarded as the dinosaur era in the evolution of weight loss. To keep up with the trend, consider something along the lines of oil-absorbing pills with dosages larger than the meal that contains the oil and at prices higher than what that meal costs you, or vanilla / chocolate / strawberry milkshake-flavored meal supplements derived from 100% natural herbs to free yourself from the guilt of having a vanilla / chocolate / strawberry milkshake as the supplement of your subsequent meal, or beauty center packages that offer treatments from a line of lean mean slimming machines that look as though made to teleport all people weighing more than 100lbs into intergalactic space and replace their existence on earth with fat-free versions of their look-alikes from Mars.

Signs of this Physical Revolution are not limited to printed matter. Evidence can be found on flyers, subway billboards, late night infomercials, and road shows. All as the effort of beauty centers to downsize the city's population. The city's mid-upper class population, that is. A typical treatment at one of these beauty centers would cost a typical worker two to three times his/her typical monthly salary.

I've been amazed, a couple of times, by the results these treatments had generated on a certain few celebrity spokespersons of these beauty centers. Some of the before and after pictures are really to wow for. The thing I don't understand though, is when already skinny (some obviously anorexic) celebs are chosen as spokespersons. I guess it's logical when you consider that it's much harder for a 90 pounder to go down one or two ounces than for a 200 pounder to lose 30+ pounds.

In real life, however, I've never seen anyone lose any decent amount of weight through pills, powdered drinks, or beauty center treatments. If I had that kind of spending power, there is a long list of things I'd want to do before I'd consider blowing it on something that requires me to eat less as an aftermath, for one I'd rather invest in an enjoyable, scrumptious, and altogether fattening feast.

But while I'm still making a below typical income, I shall have my super-sized extra value meal and eat it too.