A blaze of lights, some big blasts and the fireworks festival takes off

By Kimberly Johans
Published in The Macau Daily Times
September 16, 2007, page 5 (636 words)

The first night of the Macau annual fireworks festival went off with a bang as Kimbolton Fireworks Limited from the United Kingdom started the competition with an eighteen-minute display that lit up the night sky. The company’s first foray into the Macau Festival began with what  appeared to be mini lights falling gently from the sky, about nine in total. Suddenly a blaze of lights filled the sky, followed by a series of blasts, one after another. What followed was a burst of colours, of red stars bursting from within green fire. This was followed by another barrage of coloured lights, one after another, dancing to the tune of ?? ‘somebody told me.’
A moment of respite followed, enough to catch one’s breath, before the next lot shot through, beginning with twinkling gold stars, followed by purple and gold jet streams. Then came the shots of purple and gold, like flowers bursting from within the barge. This was followed by a gigantic multi-coloured burst and then by smaller versions of purple and gold. Suddenly, silver clouds with gold dust appeared, followed by green stars, shooting down a rainfall of silver light. The rest that followed held its audience in its grasp, with every face held enthralled by Kimbolton’s mesmerising display. The UK company may currently be a market leader in its field but there’s no denying the humble origins.

The not-so-easy quest in naming a frog to promote a restaurant

By Kimberly Johans
Published in The Macau Daily Times
September 16, 2007, page 2 (1,283 words)

Naming a baby is hard. Naming a restaurant, particularly when it’s situated in a Chinese city, is harder. With the nation’s well-known propensity for superstition, Blue Frog founder Mr Bob Boyce admits to leaving no stone unturned in his quest for the perfect restaurant name.
Asked the reasons behind the unusual combination of words, Mr Boyce recalls a close friend “who always carried a lapis lazuli blue frog I his pocket.”
Having done so for twenty years, he adds that this had always brought his friend good luck.
“And so when I got ready to name my place I just thought that was a great name and I asked him if I could use it,” he added.
That was the easy part. What followed was a series of efforts raised to ensure that neither “blue” nor “frog” held any negative connotations in Chinese culture.
“Colours are very symbolic so we had to see if there was anything bad with blue,” he said, adding that as it turned out, blue was a fairly optimistic colour that generally made people feel good.