Carolyn Lau is currently reading for an MPhil in English Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include modernism, the city and the psychology of modern man, the visual arts and pop culture. These are the people and things she likes in the year 2012 so far (in no particular order): Rainer Maria Rilke, avocadoes, sun-filled museums, Orson Welles, ekphrasis, Graham Greene, The Sunset Boulevard, Madame Bovary and Toshiro Mifune. [Reviews]