#timeout.com

Raves for 大象體操 Elephant Gym over at TimeOut HK!  =D

They included the EG AudioTree live set from spring of 2019; I’ll bet most of you have seen that video, it was quite a boost to their international profile! =D

And in case you missed it last fall, let’s have a listen to the title track of their Gaze At Blue ep:

Via Darren's Instagram Story (October 4th, 2019)

Thousands of Twenty-Somethings Shared What They Really Think About Life In Their Cities – Here’s What They Had To Say

— Grace Beard | Wednesday 13 August 2025

Every year, Time Out publishes an annual ranking of the world’s greatest cities. The cities make the list thanks to the results of a comprehensive survey of over 18,500 locals, who share their feelings about their city’s nightlife, food and culture, as well as stuff like happiness, access to green space and walkability. Their insights, alongside votes from a panel of Time Out experts, help us create a definitive guide to the best cities on the planet to live (and to visit) right now.

But the things that make a city great can look very different from generation to generation – and we wanted to find out what today’s twenty-somethings think. Based on the same data as our Best Cities survey, but filtered to responses from those under 30, this global ranking of the world’s best cities for Gen Z celebrates the places where the next generation truly thrives.

So, what exactly matters to today’s young urbanites? Some of Time Out’s Gen Z staff have their ideas.

‘I’d say the one factor is a properly accessible cultural scene,’ says Time Out’s London and UK news editor Ed Cunningham. ‘Accessible in the sense that anyone can participate in it, performing music or exhibiting art, but also for people going to events and exhibitions. You want loads of things to do at affordable prices – if a city’s arts and culture scene is snobbish and inaccessible, what's the point?’

‘My favourite cities are walkable – that’s the most important thing, because it lends itself to having a proper see-where-the-night-takes-you evening out, and it’s also the most fun way to explore,’ says Time Out’s travel writer Liv Kelly. ‘Also, as a Gen Z, I like walking because I’m broke and it’s free.’

So there you have it. Things like affordability, a great nightlife scene and ease of meeting new people are up there, according to our survey. Many cities made the ranking for being diverse and inclusive, and for having great art, plenty of green spaces and efficient public transport.

These are officially the best cities on the planet for Gen Z to live in 2025.

— Bangkok, Thailand 🇹🇭

Photograph: JoeZ, Shutterstock

The Thai capital topped the ranks thanks to its stand-out scores in happiness (84 percent of Gen Z say they’re happy living there) and affordability (71 percent say it’s a budget-friendly city to live in). It’s also a great place to meet new people: Gen Z urbanites in Bangkok are the most likely bunch to say it’s easy to make friends in their city.

— Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺

Photograph: Shutterstock

Australia’s cultural capital came in second, with 77 percent of Gen Z describing their city as diverse and inclusive and 96 percent giving high ratings to the city’s art and culture scene. It also scored highly for quality of life, with a whopping 91 percent of twenty-somethings saying quality of life in Melbourne is ‘good’ or ‘amazing’.

— Cape Town, South Africa 🇿🇦

Photograph: Heinrich van Tonder, Shutterstock

In third place was Cape Town, where 82 percent of Gen Z inhabitants are happy. The coastal city got top marks for beauty (71 percent of Gen Z would describe Cape Town as beautiful), cheap nights out (76 percent say going out for a drink is affordable), and for being an all-round exciting place to live (62 percent would describe it as such).

— New York City, United States 🇺🇸

Photograph Shutterstock, Rooftop Bar in New York

The Big Apple was the most likely city on the list to be described ‘exciting’ by Gen Z, who also praised its walkability (82 percent of Gen Z said it’s easy to get around by foot) and, of course, its after-dark offerings (84 percent rated the city highly for nightlife).

— Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰

Photograph: Nick N A, Shutterstock.Com

Copenhagen was recently crowned the world’s most liveable city, and our survey backs up that accolade. The Danish capital received a high happiness rating (64 percent of Gen Z are happy living there), as well as a pretty decent rating for romance (54 percent say it’s easy to find love).

— Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸

Photograph: Shutterstock

Not only are 71 percent of twenty-somethings happy living in Barcelona, but the city also tied with Melbourne to receive the highest rating for diversity and inclusivity (77 percent of Gen Z living in Barcelona would describe it that way).

— Edinburgh, United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Photograph: Dmitry Naumov, Shutterstock

Edinburgh topped several categories in our survey of Gen Z, receiving the highest score for green spaces and access to nature (according to 95 percent of twenty-somethings living there) and walkability (89 percent of Gen Z say the city is walkable).

— Mexico City, Mexico 🇲🇽

Photograph: Wangkun Jia, Shutterstock

Gen Z in Mexico City are among the happiest on the list, with a huge 83 percent saying they’re happy in their city. It’s also the second-most affordable place for Gen Z to live after Bangkok, with 69 percent of twenty-somethings giving it high scores for affordability.

— London, United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Photograph: BBA Photography, Shutterstock

London is known for its free art and culture, so it’s not surprising that a whopping 96 percent of Gen Z living there rated its culture scene highly. The city’s food scene also received a tonne of praise in our survey, with 95 percent of young people rating it highly. Unsurprisingly, the UK capital didn’t fare too well for affordability; only 45 percent agree it’s a budget-friendly place to live.

— Shanghai, China

Photograph: ESB Professional, Shutterstock

Shanghai got top marks for public transport (96 percent of Gen Z locals gave it a high rating) and for overall happiness (84 percent say they’re happy living there). Young people living in Shanghai are also most likely to describe their city as modern.

Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺

Beijing, China 🇨🇳

Paris, France 🇫🇷

Tokyo, Japan 🇯🇵

Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪

Seville, Spain 🇪🇸

Chicago, United States 🇺🇸

Chiang Mai, Thailand 🇹🇭

Prague, Czech Republic 🇨🇿

Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹

— Monday 7 July 2025 | David Hughes

Ever since the first TV flickered into life, networks have been making ‘pilots’ – single episodes that may nor may not be ordered to full series. ‘A Pilot Is Open-Ended,’ says David Lynch, who arguably created the most famous un-picked-up television pilot of all time (see below), ‘and, when it’s over, you feel all these threads going out into the infinite which, to me, is a beautiful thing’. The practice began because production companies used what became known as ‘pilot season’ to show regional network affiliates across the U.S. the shows they proposed to make for the following year’s TV schedule, with the most successful shows being ‘picked up’, i.e. ordered to air.

Although many hugely successful shows, including Game of Thrones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sherlock, Desperate Housewives and The Big Bang Theory, famously had shelved pilots that never made it to air, others were not so lucky – like Parker Posey’s serial killer thriller Frankenstein, How I Met Your Dad (Starring Greta Gerwig and Meg Ryan) and Ryan Murphy’s trans drama Pretty/Handsome with Joseph Fiennes.

Those didn’t make the cut – damn, that’s twice now! – but here is Time Out’s selection of those that got away.

1. Mulholland Drive (1999)

Photograph: ABC

After the cancellation of Twin Peaks, Hotel Room and On the Air, David Lynch painted a plywood board angrily declaring: ‘I WILL NEVER WORK IN TELEVISION AGAIN’. In 1999, he got a $7 million green light from Disney-owned ABC for a creepy two-hour pilot set in Los Angeles – but after seeing the results, it was cancelled. A year later, however, French producers paid off ABC and gave Lynch an extra $2 million to turn the failed pilot into a feature film – a critically acclaimed and commercially successful masterpiece that earned Lynch his third Oscar nomination for Best Director.

2. Popeye Doyle (1986)

Photograph: December 3rd Productions

Inspired by the exploits of real-life NYPD Eddie Egan, The French Connection remains one of the greatest cop thrillers of all time, winning four Oscars including Best Picture. Hackman reprised his role as ‘Popeye’ Doyle in John Frankenheimer’s 1975 sequel, The French Connection II. A decade later, a pre-Married… with Children Ed O’Neill inherited the detective’s iconic pork pie hat in a feature-length pilot investigating a man who picks his feet in Poughkeepsie.

3. The Farm (2013)

Photograph: Netflix

Aired in modified form as the 17th episode of the ninth and final series of the hit US version of The Office, The Farm was conceived as a ‘backdoor pilot’ for a proposed spin-off series starring Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, set at his family homestead in the Pennsylvania Dutch community. The death of Dwight’s aunt results in Schrute Farm being left to the family – including beck-bearded brothers played by Breaking Bad’s Matt Jones and Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) – and at the end of the episode, Dwight appears ready to take on the ‘nine-acre worm farm’ full time. Watch The Farm on Netflix

4. Heat Vision and Jack (1999)

Photograph: Fox

What happens when a former astronaut (Jack Black) teams up with a talking motorcycle (voiced by Owen Wilson)? We’ll never know, because Fox canned Ben Stiller’s Heat Vision and Jack (co-created by Rick and Morty’s Dan Harmon) before the first episode was ever broadcast. Jack Austin gains superintelligence after exposure to ‘inappropriate levels of solar energy’, while chattering chopper ‘Heat Vision’ was the result of an accident involving Jack’s burnout roommate, a motorcycle and an experimental ray gun.

5. Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998)

Photograph: 20th Century Fox

Ten years before Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury made his first of many appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man (2008) – and 35 years after his comic book debut in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commando (1963) – the cyclopean ex-CIA agent made his screen debut in a 1998 pilot starring David Hasselhoff. Written by Blade and Dark Knight trilogy screenwriter David Goyer, it pulls Fury out of retirement to return to secret agency S.H.I.E.L.D. to face a new threat by terrorist organisation HYDRA, which has revived a cryogenically preserved baddie plotting to unleash a deadly pandemic on New York.

6. Tremors (2018)

Photograph: Blumhouse

Between the third and fourth Tremors films – about subterranean monsters in the dusty desert town of Perfection Valley, Nevada – the Sci-Fi Channel made 13 episodes of a spin-off series featuring Dean Norris (Breaking Bad’s Hank), J.D. Walsh and Christopher Lloyd. But what really caused seismic reverberations was SyFy’s announcement that a pilot for a new series had been shot, with Kevin Bacon reprising his role as handyman Val McKee. Despite the promise of the single episode filmed for the proposed series, Bacon confirmed in 2021 that ‘that my dream of revisiting the world of Perfection will not become a reality’.

7. Stick Around (1977)

Photograph: ABC

Between his appearance in the very first episode of Saturday Night Live and his star-making turn in hit sitcom Taxi (1978-83), surrealist entertainer and performance artist Andy Kaufman starred in the television pilot Stick Around. Set in the year 2055, the show revolved around ‘Andy’ (remarkably, not A.N.D.Y.), an obsolete household robot owned by antique store owner Vance Keefer. Hilarity ensues as Andy misunderstands the purpose of various 1970s appliances available for sale in the ‘future’. Although the series was never picked up, its DNA can be found not only in Taxi, but in the hit Happy Days spin-off Mork & Mindy (1978-82), which made a star of Kaufman’s friend Robin Williams.

8. Red Dwarf (1992)

Photograph: NBC

Four years after its BBC debut, future Malcolm in the Middle creator Linwood Boomer tried to relaunch Rob Grant and Doug Naylor’s sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf – concerning the motley crew of the eponymous mining spacecraft in the year 3,000,000, in the US. Every character was recast except for Robert Llewellyn’s android, Kryten. ‘Human nature being what it is, there was some fierce jealousy from at least two of the cast,’ Naylor revealed. Craig Charles, who played likeable slob Lister in the UK version, was unhappy for other reasons. ‘The guy who played me was really good,’ he said of Craig Bierko, ‘which pissed me off. But he was like six foot four and handsome.’ Watch Clip:

9. Cruel Intentions (2016)

Photograph: Sony Pictures Television

Seventeen years after Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon starred in Roger Kumble’s slick, sexy makeover of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses – aka Dangerous Liaisons – a sequel series almost made it to the small screen. In the 45-minute pilot, co-written and directed by Kumble, Gellar reprised her role as Kathryn Merteuil, now married to a wealthy man, her storied past well behind her. But when the son of Sebastian Valmont (Phillippe’s character from the film) discovers his father’s journal, Kathryn’s past is exposed, threatening her plans to take over the Valmont corporation.

10. K-9 and Company (1981)

Photograph: BBC Pebble Mill

A quarter century before The Sarah Jane Adventures, former Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and robotic dog K-9 were set to star in a spin-off from Tom Baker-era Doctor Who, in which investigative journalist Sarah Jane and K-9 would solve mysteries in sleepy English villages. A single episode, ‘A Girl’s Best Friend’, concerning a ritual sacrifice being plotted by a local witches’ coven, was aired as a Christmas special on 28 December 1981, attracting over eight million viewers – more than the average episode viewership during the same era – but the BBC declined to pick it up for a full series following a change of management.

— Written By Molly Dubens, TimeOut Contributor | Monday July 22 2024

Photograph: Eugene Krasnaok, Gillie and Marc

It’s Time To Oc-Topi Wall Street! Gillie and Marc, the renowned artistic duo known for a number of larger-than-life wildlife sculptures, are exhibiting an array of animal sculptures outside the World Trade Center, including the world’s largest octopus sculpture!

The exhibition named “Wildlife Wonders” includes three interactive bronze works from other pieces that feature their main two iconic characters, Rabbitwomen and Dogman, as well as sculptures of a range of endangered species. The spotlight, however, is on the giant octopus, which spans a whopping 36 feet and weighs around 7 tons. Woven throughout the animal’s eight tentacles are numerous endangered species, like rhinos and zebras.

Photograph: Eugene Krasnaok, Gillie and Marc

It will be on display on the South Oculus Plaza from July 16, 2024, through July 31, 2025.

The creative pair are known for their celebration of wildlife conservation, where they prove that art can inspire positive change. While their sculptures are first and foremost to raise awareness about conservation they also welcome a playful response with their interactive qualities.

Photograph: Eugene Krasnaok, Gillie and Marc

“In the last 50 years, wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% globally. We are now facing the world’s sixth mass extinction,” Gillie stated. “This crisis is beyond description, yet we remain hopeful and committed to witnessing change within our lifetimes. We trust that our art and the stories we tell can inspire people to engage in vital conversations and take meaningful action.” Their exhibitions both raise awareness and celebrate the beauty of wildlife.

Photograph: Eugene Krasnaok, Gillie and Marc

Along with the main piece “The Arms of Friendship,” the two others are titled “The Wild Table of Love” and “The Hippo Was Hungry To Try New Things With Rabbitwoman.” The former is a banquet scene with a bronze table set for both humans and animals. Like the tentacles, the sculpture welcomes you to sit and invites the viewer to join in on the festivities. All these whimsical scenes are made to put a playful spin on the discussion of wildlife conservation.

Time Out UrbanStems Sweepstakes – Win Flower Delivery Subscription

This Sweepstakes is open only to individuals (Entrants) who are legal residents of the United States. All entrants need to submit entry before February 8th, 2021 and can get a chance to Win flower delivery subscription. Time Out UrbanStems Sweepstakes Link Time Out UrbanStems Sweepstakes Rules Time Out America Time Out UrbanStems Sweepstakes – Win Flower Delivery Subscription Time Out America…

See teamLab’s latest art in Tokyo for free this summer — TimeOut.com

Read more at TimeOut.com

— by Kasey Furutani: Summer is approaching, which means we’ll be seeking comfort in air-conditioned museums (with face masks on, of course) and pools, and with icy cold drinks. Both teamLab Planets and Borderless reopened this month with increased safety measures, making them perfect options for beating the heat or hiding away from June’s rainstorms. As an additional…