Hands up if you're confused The government advises people to stop shaking hands. 'Say hi, wave goodbye,' runs its anti-Sars public information ad. But reader Dan Kubiske points out that in another announcement Secretary for Education and Manpower Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun tells us we must all join hands. Is it a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing? Clash of the icons The film world's most famous fighting machines will finally square up to each other when Jackie Chan meets Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new movie. But whether these two great icons will thrash it out in an East-West showdown remains to be seen. Arnie (below) is playing a cameo part in Jackie's forthcoming movie Around The World In 80 Days, but his role is still to be decided. Rugby ball on touchy ground We hear the Sars theme of Valley Rugby Club's 'A Typical Masked Ball' has put some members into a coughing fit. An early draft of the private party invitation, circulated among members, suggests a dress code of 'Doctors, Nurses or Patients', 'compulsory masks' and 'optional latex'. The invite also promises 'copious amounts of disinfecting alcohol' and a menu of 'non-hospital food'. But not everyone has taken the invite in good humour. One club member told us: 'Some people think it is in bad taste and want the whole theme scrapped. This would be a shame as we wanted to spread the message that Hong Kong was getting over Sars and starting to have fun again. 'Health workers have emerged as city heroes and we wanted to celebrate that,' he said. To play the race card A local independent film-maker is casting a movie about the experiences of Western-educated Chinese and Eurasians living in post-handover Hong Kong. The film will focus on the city's increasingly visible Western-educated Chinese demographic and has already generated interest from many of Hong Kong's mixed-race movers and shakers. 'It's about Eurasians and 'bananas' and their search for identity in Hong Kong,' said Alex Ng, who is producing the movie with local film-maker Joe Lau. A number of Western-educated Hong Kong actors are already signed up as well as local celebrities who will be cast in cameo roles, but we have been sworn to keep their identities secret at this stage. 'It's an issue that has hardly been touched upon by Hong Kong's mainstream entertainment industry,' said Ng (below), 'but it's very close to many people's hearts and the response we have been getting reflects that.' Any professional local actors interested in casting for the film should send show reels and resume to International Fixer, 15 Aberdeen Street, Central. And now for the news-maker Television anchor Tanya Liu Hai-juo is never far from a story. The 34-year-old journalist (left) won the world's sympathy after being badly injured in a train derailment while on holiday in Britain a year ago. Last June, still in a coma from the accident, Liu was flown to Beijing's Xuanwu Hospital where she continued her recovery. For the past two weeks she has been back on Phoenix TV reporting from her hospital bed about the capital's Sars epidemic. Yesterday, she again found herself part of the story, when her hospital was assigned a quarantine zone. According to a Phoenix spokesman, Liu is presently Sars-free and has been moved to another hospital. We wish her well and hope, for once, her uncanny ability to be at the centre of a story deserts her. MORE HAIKUS The writing has been On the wall for decades now Time for change is here (Bobsy) Bedecked in rubber Betty Tung strides boldly to Meet the poor people (William Wadsworth) We greet this way now Heads bob in the ancient bow Germ-free hi, bye, ciao (Sally Armstrong) Please send your haikus to sar@scmp.com . The writer of the best entry will win a night at the Island Shangri-La's harbour-view suite plus breakfast for two worth $8,888. Haikus should be three lines - five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. All readers' haikus are now being inputted into our Web site. See them at http://totallyhk.scmp.com/thkarts/index.html
