Train ride 火車

Welcome to Taiwan

(Image from here.)

Monocle is doing a Touring Taiwan series of videos - the first one here. If it all works out, I should be there end of the year. Ah, can't wait.

The article Taiwan hit factory (story's in print in the magazine but you can check out the video report via the link) was one of the reasons why I bought Issue 22. Not because the pop and music industry there is unfamiliar to me, but because I was curious about a non-Asian, non-Chinese perspective. It seems like they pretty much hit all the right notes, though I wish they had covered more.

Three very different Tizzy Bac MVs

The latest album 如果看見地獄，我就不怕魔鬼 is totally growing on me. The more I listen the more I love.

The first MV is my favourite of the lot. It's strangely inspiring for a Bali wedding I'll be attending in May, though I think if the bride watches the MV, she'll be worried I said that.

婚禮歌手


For the Way I Live


鐵之貝克

你知不知道我很羨慕你
你只要專心的難過就好
我卻要壯壯的活著。

- 電影 拍賣世界的角落

I suppose there's no better day to fall sick than on a rainy day

It really is cold today. Perfect for burrowing into bed, perfect for hot, steaming Milo, perfect for immersing in alternative universes.



I finally got to watch Antique! The movie is every bit as funny as the animation even though it had to gloss over some details. Everything was gorgeous - the shop, the uniforms, the men and the cakes, oh the cakes. I'm dying for a kickass strawberry shortcake right now.

Also watched 渺渺 / Miao Miao. Not exactly original but not bad either.



今天不小心看了兩部跟同性戀與蛋糕有關的電影
大力推薦 Antique
故事有創意﹐人物描寫都很棒
是喜劇但也有溫馨的一面
而且拍的好漂亮。

渺渺還不錯
旅行的意義用的有點過頭
但我喜歡憂鬱老闆的故事。

如果看見地獄，我就不怕魔鬼

是不是很厲害的專輯名稱
也不需要多說什麼
試聽吧

The Village was so good.

There are some shows that leave such a deep impression you can't stop thinking about the characters long after the curtains fall.

There are shows that move you, and then there are shows that make you forget that the people out there are acting. They've taken on a different dimension and you no longer think of them of characters.

帶了媽媽去看寶島一村 還蠻開心的
因為不出所料 真的很棒
沒問她 但似乎是覺得好看
她是在馬來西亞的 kampung 村子長大
很年輕就來新加坡工作
相信寶島一村看下來是蠻有感覺的

好像跑了時光隧道認識了一堆寶島村民似的
現在還在想著那些人和事
其實 在電視上看了幾次王偉忠說卷村故事
剛剛的一幕幕似乎多了一份親切感

還有 看見王偉忠活生生站在眼前也讓我十分興奮
因為我很喜歡他﹗

2009 Taipei 101 Fireworks

其實我一直都覺得101還蠻丑的
但丑個364天23小時56分鐘﹐然後來個超贊的4分鐘
什麼都變值得了

此刻﹐我答應我自己
下一個跨年﹐我要親眼目睹這一切

This is really good

I don't enjoy happy endings for the same reason why I'm not too good with hypothetical questions. Too simplistic. I don't mind so much happy endings that come about after much complication or are complicated. In other words, they have to be realistic.

九降風, to put it simply, is about adolescence and all the issues covered by it. But you and I have been through adolescence and we know that nothing about it is simple.

I like that the show is honest without being vulgar. And that there are plenty of what-ifs and all of them are valid and real but they never once ask what if.

Sometimes I wish my own life could be compressed into a series of films. Every emotion has an accompanying soundtrack, every look has a meaning and the colours are always so beautiful that even old classrooms look loved and filled with memories, not merely dust.

Here's a slightly pretentious synopsis that gives a pretty good idea of what it's about. And here's the trailer.

愛的發聲練習

I want to watch this. I think I'll enjoy the soundtrack done by 范曉萱 as well.

When was the last time you received a handwritten letter?

Recently, I've been thinking about letters. Handwritten letters.

For better or for worse, technology took away my ability to pour my heart out. I remember a time when I could write anything down on paper. And then I became a stranger to myself and I was no longer allowed to write with no holds barred because I did not want what I thought to be read by any eyes, even my own.

The very last letter I received caused me much pain. I did not dare to even finish reading it properly before I closed my eyes, tore it to pieces and buried it into the bin. I still haven't forgotten that guilt and I suspect I may never really will. It was pain I deserved and I suppose I will always have to pay for it.

海角七號 has done tremendously well in Taiwan. The poster makes it look like a soppy love story but it's not. It's more like one heart-aching background love story, one illogical love story, along with music, culture, family, elderly frustration, youthful angst, etc, etc. I like the letters arc, because the narrated letters painted an extremely vivid picture of longing, regret, love and loss. It wasn't a particularly good movie, but it was an enjoyable movie.

The mother just came back from her holiday in Taiwan. Picture she took. Pretty cool.

對阿對阿 對阿對阿!

盧廣仲 is coming in September.

OMG!!!

Happy 2009!

Hopefully, I'll be shouting that with the following sight right in front of me.

Decided that I want to cross over to the new year in Taipei. This conclusion came about after funny girl and I started mulling over where to and when to fly this year. The urge to return to Taiwan is simply too strong. With any luck - it all depends on work - we'll be able to pull it off.

Another scene I wish to see is this.

Hopefully, I can also make it to Japan in March/April 09.

One of the conversation practices in my Jap textbook was all about arranging a picnic under the cherry blossom trees, and there was an illustration that looked like the picture below. I knew sakura season is a really huge deal but I didn't realise that picnicking under the trees is such a national activity. It's gonna be really fun experiencing something like that.

Terrible urge to take flight

Supreme urge to fly off somewhere, and the destination that comes to mind, an easy place to go alone, is the city of Taipei.

The place has been popping up everywhere and making its presence felt. Tonnes of people around me have been flying there the past few months. Every other day, I see on FB new pictures of a trip to Taiwan or new happy declarations of people making their ways there.

Seeing the pictures of the familiar streets, food and people always awakens this awful urge in me to be there as well.

And I would fly there next week. But the urge only overwhelmed me today and the Jetstar promotion is over while the normal tickets are simply too expensive to justify such a whim. Not to mention how I won't be able to spend the weekend there since I've to be back by Sat evening for the Wu Bai (!) concert.

Taiwanese cute boy and his blog/shop!!

Well, the story goes like this. We stumbled upon the 紅樓 design market the last time we were in Taiwan. The funny girl was looking at tees or badges in the shop. The artist/owner had settled down in a corner, back against the wall, legs stretched out, and was drawing intently, just like how he is in the above picture. I was so taken by the sight I tried to steal a picture. But at the last moment, he leaped up to serve a customer who chose that moment to ask him a question.

His shop was slightly different then. White, mainly, with tees dangling mid-air on a rope of sorts by the same wall in the picture.

God how I loved the design market. Now I really really have the urge to go back there again...

Love the casualpoet shop.

The merchandise and the layout reminds me of Taipei and all the Eslite bookstores I adore.

Tonnes of magazines about art, fashion, architecture, literature from all over the world. Quirky books about everything and nothing. Equally quirky CD covers and a vast selection of indie bands at excellent prices. Not to forget the beautiful tearoom at Dunhua Eslite.

Hope I'll be able to go back at the end of the year.