The Week July 16, 2010

A World Cup win for Paul the Octopus

The news this week is NOT waking up to cheers and blaring vuvuzelas from fans watching the games on television at 2 o'clock in the morning – China time. Yes, even at the 2010 World Expo under way in Shanghai, they whooped it up for the final game of the World Cup at the South Africa pavilion.

China wasn't at the World Cup, but the students at Yanbian University set a Guinness world record when 1,062 soccer fans juggled soccer balls for 10 seconds.

Back in Shanghai, World Expo visitors this week are lining up for special Expo stamps to honor the big hero of this year's World Cup: Paul the Octopus. Paul the Octopus became the big sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of eight World Cup matches, including the final win by Spain.

In China, online sellers doubled or tripled their sales by adding the word "Paul" to their octopus toys and snacks. Some fans even got Paul the Octopus tattoos.

But all those fans of the losing teams? They were in the market for octopus recipes.

The "other" football

So now that the World Cup is over, what will football fans do? The new season of the American version of football begins next month.

But when it comes to the kind of football played in the World Cup versus American football featured on prime time television each fall, prime time comedian John Cleese, an Englishman, is not on the side of the Yanks. Here's his argument against football vs. football in a video making the rounds on the Internet this week.

Great big eyes

In the US, they used to call them Betty Davis eyes, after the late American actress.

But in Beijing, China Daily reports this week that some young women might be risking their eyesight to make their eyes look bigger and brighter like Betty's with giant circle contact lenses. It's the latest fad to make you look like you have bigger, wider irises.

But optometrists are warning that this fad of using oversize contact lenses can lead to serious eye infections and even blindness. Here's a healthier alternative, brought to you by Chinese college students who didn't want to be caught sleeping in class. Just tape on a pair of eyelid stickers (nine sets for five yuan in some stores) for those great big Betty Davis eyes.

Let's Go Expo!

All eyes are wide open at the 2010 World Expo under way in Shanghai. There's so much to see, and so much to do, you won't want to shut your eyes. So let's go Expo! And to bring home a treat, there are plenty of Expo souvenirs.

Click for previous The Week

About the broadcaster:

Renee Haines is an editor and broadcaster at China Daily. Renee has more than 15 years of experience as a newspaper editor, radio station anchor and news director, news-wire service reporter and bureau chief, magazine writer, book editor and website consultant. She came to China from the United States.