(English) Singles Day: James Bond, bragging and ‘eating dirt’

From jokes about eating soil to surprise cameos by James Bond and President Frank Underwood, the national shopping spree that is China’s Singles Day yet again sparked a frenzy online and offline. Here are some highlights.
Celebrity cameos
For the first time, a live countdown to the start of Singles Day at midnight was shown on national TV, with Hunan TV broadcasting a lavish variety show from late Tuesday night to early on Wednesday
The show, also streamed online, was organised by Alibaba, the e-commerce giant responsible for turning Singles Day into a national shopping event.
It featured A-list Asian and Western celebrities singing, dancing, and playing games on stage.Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai – the Mandopop equivalent of Katy Perry – opened the show at Beijing’s Water Cube, helmed by top director Feng Xiaogang. Korean superstars Rain and CNBlue made appearances.
American singer Adam Lambert also popped up, and the show culminated with a surprise guest – James Bond actor Daniel Craig,Craig played a lucky draw game with Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, picking 11 winners who could each buy a Cadillac for one yuan ($0.6; £0.1), according to Alibaba’s news portal Alizila.Another surprise appearance was Kevin Spacey, in character as US President Frank Underwood from the television show House of Cards.
“Here at the White House, there are so many firewalls blocking me from shopping online that not even the president will be able to take advantage of those amazing deals,” he said in a video message, in which he also hawked M&Ms, a trench coat, and his presidential desk.
“If this Singles Day is the excuse you’ve been waiting for to spoil yourself with a little online shopping, then I must say I’m more than a little jealous.”