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Articles tagged with: Taiwan

Urban Nomad, Returning to Olympus, a Singing Contest & More!

April 23, 2012 – 7:42 pm
Singing Contest in Zhongli

A not-so-quick note about recent goings-on in Taipei: The Urban Nomad film festival has been underway for the past ten or eleven days. I believe Sunday (April 22nd) was the last day. I went to see The Taiwan Oyster on the opening night of the festival. It was an interesting night. The venue for the festival is one of the huge warehouse-type buildings at Huashan …

Evergreen Maritime Museum – Taipei

April 8, 2012 – 6:19 pm
Evergreen Maritime Museum

The Evergreen Maritime Museum is located in downtown Taipei. I stumbled across it almost by accident, and I was very glad I did. Though relatively unknown, it is an amazing museum with hundreds of elaborate models of famous ships throughout history, a display of maritime paintings, and technical hands-on displays of the components of modern ships.

Jiping Zhao – Film Score Concert at Zhongshan Hall

April 1, 2012 – 10:59 am
Zhao Jiping at Zhongshan Hall

Zhao Jiping is one of the best-known composers in China. Among his work are the film scores for several famous movies, such as Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine. He’s known for his ability to combine traditional Chinese instruments and music with conventional western orchestral styles. On Saturday night, the Taipei City Chinese Orchestra performed some of his most famous pieces in a …

TaipeiEYE – Picking Up the Jade Bracelet

January 16, 2012 – 8:27 am
Picking Up the Jade Bracelet

The man at center stage was wearing a very colorful and elaborate costume. He stood there for a moment and then slowly raised one leg and pointed his foot at the audience like it was a kind of weapon. On his foot was a shoe with a three- or four-inch-thick white wooden platform. He grabbed his foot with one hand, twisted it to the side …

Sherlock Holmes & Ferries to China

January 15, 2012 – 1:03 pm
Cosco Star Ferry

Not much of interest happened this past week. I passed some time reading two Sherlock Holmes novels. I read A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four. As far as I know, A Study in Scarlet was the first story that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes. I found it interesting partially because I could contrast it with the first episode of …

Scooter Mechanics in Taiwan Are Awesome

January 7, 2012 – 2:20 pm
Just kidding - This isn't my scooter.

It’s a cliche, but it’s hard to believe that it is already January of 2012. I seem to have lost all track of time – years and months and even days. I was handed my pay slip by my company the other day, and I had no idea what it was. I didn’t even know it was pay day. I had this idea it was …

Midnight at the Theater

January 1, 2012 – 2:28 pm
Two Leads from the Brazilian Movie "Midnight"

There are lots of ways to ring in the New Year. Most people go to see the New Year’s Eve fireworks in whatever city they happen to be in. It makes sense. I had plans to do that myself. I was going to hop on my bicycle and ride to the area around the Taipei 101 building. The fireworks were not actually the draw for …

Night at the Opera – Bluebeard’s Castle

December 31, 2011 – 10:20 am
Bluebeard's Castle Program

The opera Bluebeard’s Castle by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was performed at the National Theater in Taipei on Friday night. I had never been to the National Theater and, on impulse, I picked up a ticket for NT$800. My seat was off to the left in the balcony on the second floor. My experiences at Zhongshan Hall and the National Concert Hall led me to believe …