Bride wannabes :: Florence

Warning: Spoilers ahead

She, in fact, is the most truthful women out of the five contestants.

Not that she is particularly pleasant or that her personality is particularly amiable, but she is speaking the truth, deep in her mind - and I guess this mind-set is sort-of engraved onto the mind of fellow female citizens of Hong Kong.

Your look matters, you age matters

She mentioned in episode three that Mei-ling has introduced to her an old man - CK Tsang in the show - who purportedly is a community college lecturer[1]. She obviously judged CK in his look and that his age is old - without thinking that she is already approaching 40. Looking at it on the another scale, she is only a few years approaching menopause, which, otherwise could be termed as "physiological infertility".

It is the nature of men to date young women. Though feminists may disagree on this, the nature of men to date young women is likely an evolution-derived characteristic.

The simple reason behind dating a young woman is for her fertility. Women ovulate every month, and often till the age of 50. It is very important to know that all the ova inside a woman's ovary are already made by the time that she was born, and these ova, unsurprisingly would be worse off when used 40 years after it was made, than, for example, some 20 years after it was made. This is demonstrated by the vast increase in genetic defects such as Down syndrome for women past the age of 35.

As to giving birth to a child, the answer is: 20 years old physiologically, 30 years old psychologically and 40 years old economically.

And then if you loved me, you should accept me "as-is"

Not that it is any wrong - but one has to get others to love him/her before one can say this. And as Mei-ling pointed out aptly, in terms of matchmaking, no matter how good you are, there ought to be somebody out there who are as good as you, yet prettier than you - and if you don't care about your outlook, you won't even get the chance in the first place.

Love is a bilateral business[2]. Anything bilateral involves compromises - that is, unsurprisingly, changes that one has to make in order to keep the relationship going. I am not a christian, but the biblical teaching on love is really on the point:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things[3].

There is probably no such somebody out there who do not need to change to behave as described above... Not me, after all[4].

More to come.

[1] And according to some facebook members who confirmed his teaching career
[2] Readers who can read chinese is directed to RC's blog here
[3] Emphasis mine.
[4] I love my girlfriend dearly, and not that I haven't changed. I think I changed for the better of our relationship.

What? Winnie Leung as a life coach? Coaching whom?

What is with choosing Miss Winnie Leung as a life coach? Is it that she is so successful in life that we would need her to coach other women who are unable to find a man who would stay with her for life?

Just examine the labels at her blog:

"bling bling, BMW, Chanel, Clinique, Facebook, Grand Hyatt, Hermes[1], HRT, il colpo, iphone, Kenji Ng, L'Oreal Paris, Lane Crawford, Louis Vuitton, LV, M.A.C. Porsche, Purpleland, Sassou Cosmo, Sex and the City, Tod's, TVB, Ultima II, Winnie Leung, Younger by Design, YSL" (There are another 19 Chinese tags) [2]

If these are representatives of what she is most interested in, I do have my reservation for her to be anybody's life coach...

Not that I am skeptical to the discipline of aesthetic medicine - but if she has nothing more than makeup, facials and aesthetic medicine to offer to her clients, one would really need to think if she is really some target goals that these five ladies in the show should really be after... (not that she's married, anyways... did I say the show is called "bride wannabes"?)

To some, the show means good entertainments for 10 weekdays.
To some, the show means an often undesired reminder for those who are still not in a relationship.

To some, the show means the day of judgement for ladies who are still not in a relationship by the age of 30.
To some, it is a joke.

[1] I really do not see the need to type the letter e with a grave accent - does that make it look nicer? Perhaps. To be honest, typing the letter with the accent is quite an undertaking for somebody with a keyboard manufactured in Hong Kong - but then who knows - maybe she got a Hermes branded keyboard...
[2] Taken from her blog on 15/4/2012 5:30 http://vipblog.orientalsunday.hk/winnieleung/

Bride wannabes, and Supersize vs Superskinny II

The UK television program probably wins in terms of actually making people happier.

Getting the much needed love - for the lady

It is really not that difficult to get love - especially for the ladies, given the correct mentality. It is never the face or body shape that is precluding a woman from a successful relationship[1]. It might as well hinder a bit in terms of establishing a relationship in the beginning, but past the first few months, the face is not going to mean much.

The face ages, the body shape sags, but the mind evolves.

In Bride Wannabes, they are giving the ladies chances in changing themselves - mostly aesthetic, sometimes behavioral, but almost never mental - You see them having their hair dyed, face covered with makeups, eyelashes lengthened to exponential scales and different clothes to package them into nice-looking ladies. You also see courses given to them in terms of how to seduce people, and how to begin a relationship.

But then this is not the point - what they need is to change their mind[2]. The most important thing that they can learn is to extend their social circle. It is really not that hard - know the friends of your friends, and you are already exponentially enlarging your social circle.

Contrasting it with the UK program, in which the chief reason for their problem (eating habit) is being treated - which program is doing good for the ladies?
 
[1] The same is true for the gentleman. 
[2] There are quite some discussions on how these girls are paid actress, but anyways, it doesn't matter - what we're discussing on is the mindset / philosophy behind the show.

Bride wannabes, and Supersize vs Superskinny

For the uninitiated...

Miss Winnie Leung is an avid blogger, and author of various books including 男人争氣手冊, 美肌瘦身祕笈 etc. Her blog can be accessed here: http://vipblog.orientalsunday.hk/winnieleung/. She has become quite famous recently because of her participation in the TVB reality programme "Bride Wannabes"[1] (盛女愛作戰).

Dr Christian Jessen is an English doctor and a TV personality. He is best known for his presentation in "Supersize vs Superskinny" which was broadcasted in BBC Channel 4. He is a regular columnist of The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard as well as the FHM. He has written an accompanying book for the TV show entitled Supersize vs Superskinny: Take Control of Your Weight. His personal website can be accessed here: http://www.drchristianjessen.com/

The television shows

Supersize vs Superskinny is a television show, presented by Dr Jessen, describing a pair of clients in each issue - one supersized (overweight) and one superskinny (underweight). In each episode the pair is invited to a house for a week of weight treatment - they are presented of what their eating habits were, how their eating habit came, and how they damage their body, and what change do they have to make in order to become healthier. They are released home, and at the end of the episode they have a debriefing showing their progress.

Bride Wannabes is a television show showing five middle-aged[2] ladies and their progress on finding love. In the process, their "life-coach", Miss Winnie Leung, together with others such as the matchmaking specialist Mei-Ling[3], provides the five ladies with various improvement programs on their outlook, the way they communicate, among other things - and they are offered chances to meet men in various activities. They are given time to express themselves, and more often than not, put into cut-scenes showing a contrasting picture on how others viewed them.

Comparing...

To boot, the UK television show is much better received than the Hong Kong show although the Hong Kong show is only beginning with the fourth episode being aired as of the day of writing. Where's the difference?

Readers are suggested to have a look on the episodes of each show. The TVB show can be viewed in mytv:

     http://mytv.tvb.com/lifestyle/bridewannabes/

The UK television show, although not supposed to be viewable online for non-UK citizens, the following youtube search can probably yield dozens of episode available... (Warning: very addictive)

     http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=supersize+vs+superskinny

To be continued...

[1] I didn't invent the name - it's TVB's official translation.
[2] Not in the medical sense, this middle-aged refers to women in their late twenties to late thirties.
[3] Whose comment was critical, dead-on and very interesting...