We’ve all been hearing a lot about the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands lately, what with all the demonstrations in China after the Japanese government purchased the islands from the Japanese owner. Meanwhile, Taiwan is adding their opinion into the mix since three governments claim this territory. So, what’s really going on? What laws govern island ownership? Who [...]
Jimmy Lai’s Next Media is at it again, this time updating their American avatars to look more… ah, realistic? *Big thanks to James Fallows for bringing this to our attention.
Formed in Taichung in 1998, We Save Strawberries is one of the more popular indie bands in Taiwan and one of my personal favorites. Their style can best be described as eclectic, drawing from all kinds of sources such as folk, light rock and electronic pop. Their lead singer Labi Wu (吳嘵萓) has a soft, feminine [...]
This week is Taiwan’s annual Spring Scream festival, held in Kenting which is located in the very southern part of the island. Started in 1995, it’s become an annual rite of spring for Taiwanese youths, where they can catch the latest musical acts from a variety of styles. This year, making their first appearance at [...]
From her second album, Joanna & 王若琳, Joanna Wang sings Don McLean’s Vincent. The daughter of music producer Wang Chi-ping (王治平), Joanna was born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles. At 20 she released her first album, Start From Here, which went #1 in Taiwan and was popular throughout east Asia. Singing in both English [...]
It’s been over ten years since Samingad released her last album. What is probably safe to say is that she is Taiwan’s reigning diva, another in a long line of great aboriginal singers from the island whose voice is so pure that it even caused A-mei to break into tears upon hearing her perform. Of Puyuma [...]
Jeremy Shuhao Lin has taken the New York City sports world by storm these last few days. The Knicks’ third-string point guard, he has started the last two games and responded with a combined 53 points and 15 assists. Only 23, the 6’3″ (190.5 cm) point guard graduated from Harvard and has kicked around the [...]
As most if not all of you have heard by now, yesterday Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) with 51.6 percent of the vote. Tsai Ing-wen had a total of 45.6% while third party candidate James Soong Chu-yu ended up with a mere 2.7%. So what happened? How did Ma [...]
On Saturday, January 14th, the people of Taiwan will select their President along with various legislative seats. I was over at Michael Turton’s blog “The View from Taiwan” where he had commented and highlighted the report shown below in its entirety. After reading it, I felt it was not only fair to all sides, but very enlightening as far [...]
On January 14, 2012, Taiwan ( ROC) will choose its next president. In this post, I’ll analyze the positions and histories of all three candidates, how they’ve waged their respective campaigns and which campaign issues really matter to the Taiwanese people. In the end, I’ll make a prediction based on how I see the race [...]
Just released, here’s a new video from The White Eyes called “In Lust I Lost”. Featuring Gao Xiao-gao (高小糕) on lead vocals, they describe themselves on their MySpace page as Garage/Psychedelic/Punk, though this song is more flowing and melodic. You can find five songs on MySpace to sample if you want a broader selection of their [...]
Aerial photographer Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) put together this 19 minute presentation filled with different video clips filmed all over Taiwan, showing the incredible beauty of the island. Afterwards, he shows individual aerial photos and describes each place. Unfortunately for non-Chinese speakers, the lecture is in Mandarin so you’ll have to figure out the different places he [...]
There have been several new albums from Taiwan bands and singers that have caught my attention recently. Here is a review of what’s going on in the music world, or at least a sampling of it. Aboriginal singer/songwriter Ilid Kaolo (以莉‧高露) has just released her debut album, My Carefree Life (輕快的生活) in the last week, a [...]
Magic Power tends to be referred to as a Taiwanese hip hop/rock band but with their newest CD, All Original Series 2: A Wild Card 全創作第2輯不按牌理出牌 they’ve moved into a more electronic mode, adding auto tune vocals and, I’ll admit it, a fun video to boot on this song, 不按牌理出牌.
Shortly after my wife and I had moved to Taipei, we had ordered an ADSL internet connection and I was having a hard time installing it, so I asked my wife to call Chunghwa Telecom to see if they could help. The lady in their service department began to give us directions for setting it [...]
