Vancouver In The Eyes of Taiwan

Nothing like goofy animation to describe a news event.
Canadians are known to be polite people.

Well at least we used to be! :P

Jay Chou Clip - Green Hornet Premiere

The movie opens tonight.

So who is hotter, Jay Chou or his translator?

Asian Ripoff XCII - I Surrender

Artist: Terry Lin
Language: Mandarin

Probably the best voice in Asia today.

Mandarin:



English:

Taiwan Commercial: Boyfriend Working Overtime

OOOPS!

Taiwan unveils birth-boosting slogan

Source: Yahoo!

Taiwan's government on Wednesday unveiled a new slogan aimed at encouraging couples to have more babies, in its latest bid to boost the island's dwindling birth rate which is among the world's lowest.

"Children -- our best heirloom" was chosen via an on-line poll after garnering nearly a third of the 31,000 responses, followed by "happiness is very easy, baby one two three" and "it's good to have a child", said the interior ministry.

The slogan's writer will get a cash prize of one million Taiwan dollars (31,250 US) while the phrase will be printed on government literature, it said in a statement.

Taiwan's authorities have been offering various incentives in an unsuccessful bid to boost birth rates, amid growing concerns that a severe manpower shortage will trigger serious social and economic problems.

The island's capital Taipei, where birth rates dived to an all-time low in 2009 with fewer than 20,000 babies being born, will start paying couples 20,000 Taiwan dollars for every newborn from next year.

Taiwan's overall birth rate stood at 8.29 births per 1,000 people last year, according to the ministry. That compares with a global average of more than 20 births per 1,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Last year 191,310 babies were born in Taiwan, down 3.74 percent from the previous year.

I don't know if this will work, just a slogan? And just the slogan winner get a prize? How about every new baby gets a grant or something, that might entice parents to have a kid!

Or how about a mascot?



I don't know, people are having less babies because raising one is such hard work. Only one of two kids is enough. I'm planning to have a baby in 2012 and I'll be 33 by then. After that, one more at most cause I married late.

Fledgling Asian hockey players strut their stuff in tropical Taiwan

Source: CP

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The skating was slow, the body checks soft and the slapshots lacked zing.

But it was still hockey they were playing this week in Taiwan, as nine of the world's least likely national teams - think Kuwait for example, or Hong Kong - faced off in a tournament that brought the quintessential winter game to this tropical Asian island.

Critics might question the value of the Challenge Cup of Asia, but any cynicism ignores the enthusiasm of the players, all but a handful being the products of homegrown Asian ice hockey programs.

Many, such as 30-year-old Malaysian forward Gary Tan, got their starts playing the inline, or iceless version of the game, and then switched over to the real thing when indoor rinks were constructed in their countries. In Tan's case, that was in 1998.

"I think my love for the sport has always been there," he said.

Thailand's Dechbadin Jittranont, also 30, said that hockey attracted him because the cold of his Bangkok rink seemed so refreshing after the heat of the city's streets.

"I love hockey and I'm very happy to be at this tournament," he said. "I need to show people that Thai hockey is the best."

more.....

Gotta start somewhere. Even a country like the US used to lose to Canada by 10 goals only 30 years ago. Today, they're pretty much even.



Looks like a decent crowd enjoying the action. Good family fun :)

Phone lost 4 days at sea found

Source: Reuters

A mobile phone lost at sea for four days washed up in perfect condition in Taiwan after drifting 37 km (23 miles) and was discovered by a park lifeguard who tracked down the shocked owner to return it, the finder said on Friday.

Yu Hsin-leh of Taipei lost the phone on July 24 while snorkeling near the Taiwan port city of Keelung, Taiwan's United Daily News reported.

On Monday, it turned up in Longdong Bay Park on the island's northeasternmost cape after floating past numerous towns and rocky outcroppings.

A small water-resistant case had protected the phone at sea, said park lifeguard Lin Huan-chuan, who found it.

Lin said he recharged the battery and called Yu's wife by finding her in the phone's list of saved numbers.

"All the phone's functions were normal," Lin said. "The owner was extremely surprised as he figured he had lost it for good."

Come on people. Cell phone while snorkeling!? Leave your cellphone behind when doing relaxing activities. If I snorkeled and my phone vibrated, I'd drown!

Taiwan's China tourism boost

Seems like it's only a matter of time until Taiwan and China unite.

How to catch a foul ball, and impress a girl too!

Found this amusing play from the Taiwan Baseball League :)


Youtube Link

If you've ever gone to a baseball game and sat down the foul lines you'll know how fast line drives can come at you. This was a bit higher up the stands so there was time to dodge. The girl was the dodging and the guy was too, but he had his pizza box ready hehe.

A Zipper Pond!

Source: Toxel

Ju Chun, a renowned Taiwanese sculptor, created this breathtaking Zipper Lotus Pond for the Juming Museum, located just outside Taipei, Taiwan.

CCTV anchor suspected of spying for Taiwan

Source: China.org

A veteran anchor with China Central Television (CCTV) is under suspicion of spying, sources revealed yesterday.

Fang Jing, the 38-year-old face of CCTV's prime-time military program Defense Watch, is being investigated for possibly spying for Taiwan, colleagues told China Daily.

The security authorities have neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

Fang, a Beijing native with a postgraduate degree, started hosting the program in 2006. Her last on-air appearance was on the Sunday edition on March 1 when she hosted an episode about India's military strength featuring Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong, a military expert at the National Defense University.

Fang's segments often touch upon regional military topics and she compares China's military capacity with foreign powers, often with the help of specialists from the People's Liberation Army.

Zhang, who has been a frequent guest on the show, told China Daily last night that Fang's case is "still under investigation" and "no conclusion has been reached so far".

"She has not been jailed as is being rumored," Zhang said. "But she is not hosting the program anymore, because she is currently being investigated."

He confirmed that Fang quit after the March 1 edition.

Sources with CCTV also confirmed yesterday that Fang had been "taken away for a possible spy probe".

She was rumored to have been seduced by a man from Taiwan who was "eight years younger than her" and to have received money from him, the sources said.

She is SO screwed! It's one thing if she was sent in by Taiwan to spy for China from the start. But to start spying just because of a man? Incredible the things ladies will do for a shot at the ol' pork sword!

Ang Lee's 10-minute standing ovation

Source: Yahoo!

Director Ang Lee's English film Taking Woodstock won a standing ovation at its premiere in Cannes on May 16. The film inspired by a true story, is a hot favourite among the 20 films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or.

Together with the cast and his wife, Lee arrived at the red carpet for the premiere screening of his film at the 62nd Cannes International Film Festival.

The comedy, which recaps the crazy hippie era, received good reviews and great acclamation. The audience stood clapping for almost 10 minutes, boosting the director's confidence in clinching the highest prize at Cannes.

The Palme d'Or is what Lee needs for a complete record of victories at all major film festivals. He has previously won the Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival) in 2005 with Brokeback Mountain and 2007 with Lust, Caution; and the Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival) in 1993 with The Wedding Banquet and 1996 with Sense and Sensibility.

Nice! That would be like winning the career grand slam! We'll see who the winner is on the weekend!


Youtube Link

Want a date with Taiwanese female stars? Pay up

$200000 for a date with me!

Source: Yahoo!

A Taiwanese director recently exposed the amounts paid to have Taiwanese female celebrities to accompany businessmen for dinner parties.

34-year-old Taiwanese top model Lin Chi-ling made her name with movie debut Red Cliff and was placed top of the price list. Her invincible charm also placed her on the Top 10 chart for "Hottest Female Celebrity Legs" and number one on "FHM's 2009 Top 100 Sexiest Ladies", and making her the female celebrity most demanded for in the Greater China region.

Barbie Hsu and Jolin Tsai, each receiving $200,000 per appointment, were second and third on the list.

Looks like everything has it's price! Wonder if with more money, it'll go past just a date!?

Toilet snake attack: Bites man's penis

Source: Yahoo!

A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.

"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."

The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.

"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.

Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.

YIKES. That sounds like a scene from the movie Snakes on a Plane!

Jay Chou breaks Asian celebrity endorsement fee record

Source: Yahoo

The economy is dipping by the day, but artistes'endorsement fees are still soaring. Recently, Faye Wong was reported to have received about S$4million for her endorsement of a shampoo, breaking the Asian celebrity endorsement fee record. Less than a month after Wong set the record, Jay Chou broke it with S$6million received for endorsing a motorbike.

The motor vehicle company said they have been discussing the endorsement deal for more than a year, but started working on it only recently.

"Jay Chou is very cautious about what he endorses and will only agree to it after fully understanding the brand," the company's spokesperson said.

Within the contracted period of endorsement, the company will invite Chou to design a series of motorbikes in conjunction with the conceptual elements of his songs.

The commercial will be shot in Beijing in mid-May. The company will also be sponsoring Chou's China concerts.

No matter how bad the economy is, the rich get richer and people still buy luxury items. Jay Chou can sell anything. He literally has to beat girls away with a stick!

2 Things Taiwan Does Well: Leggy Girls & Sweet Desserts

Source: CNReviews

…and if you’re a red-blooded male, you might consider the two one and the same.

Let’s start with the dessert…the edible one. Er, the ones you can buy. Aw, dammit, I mean the ones that can either be hot or cold.

Now, in my experience, most Chinese (er, Taiwanese, whatever) really dig a combination that involves one of the beans and often taro, but for some reason, I’ve always been a fan of grass jelly, tapioca balls, and glutinous rice balls, as pictured above. You should try whatever appeals to you, experiment with different combinations, until you find your spirit animal. If in the end you end up with all fruits, you should just off yourself.

Some background information on my choice of toppings:

* The tapioca balls are often referred to as “boba” which basically means big breasts. You can imagine why. Moreover, no one but Taiwanese people, and hip non-Taiwanese Americans exposed to the ascension of Taiwanese boba drinks into mainstream coastal culture, calls them “boba.” In China, they’re invariably referred to by their more “civilized” name, “pearls.” Bleh.
* The glutinous rice balls…wait, who the hell came up with this name anyway, glutinous rice balls? Anyway, in Chinese, you can call them “tang yuan” or “xiao tang yuan” or “yuan zi.” They can be made out of different things added to, er, glutinous rice, such as taro (the purple ones), or come in different colors such as red/pink (just added food coloring for your visual delight). These aren’t the ones with red bean or black sesame inside, these are just little balls (heh) of chewy delight. The more “Q” they are, the more delightful.
* Grass jelly. This has been an endless source of befuddlement for me. Whereas I’ve had this all the time while I grew up, it simply cannot be found in China. I just never thought it was a Taiwanese thing, but apparently it is, and that kinda pisses me off. Rage. I’m told that grass jelly is one of those love it or hate it kind of things like Tequila but I think those who hate it obviously suck gonads because it simply rocks your socks off.

I like grass jelly more than tapioca. I could use some now as the weather is getting warmer :)

Movie Reviews - March 15, 2009

Source: LoveHKFilm

Three bad movies this week.

The Forbidden Legend: Sex & Chopsticks 2 (HK)

The first one was fun, the second one is mildly disturbing. While a decent genre exercise, Sex & Chopsticks II is so unpleasant that it can only disappoint - especially since the first film was so amusing. What does this have to do with chopsticks?

Youtube Link

L-O-V-E (Taiwan)

Harmless, commercial and remarkably unaccomplished. This omnibus of love stories is okay for what it is, which isn't very much. Taiwanese popstar fans looking to gaze at their idols for ninety minutes should be happy. Everyone else? Probably not.

Youtube Link

My Friend and His Wife (Korea)

Sin Dong-Il's second film lacks the dark humor and exaggerated characters of Host & Guest, which may result in an even tougher sit. But patient viewers will find a powerful drama about a friendship and a marriage gone wrong.

Youtube Link

Boy wins rights to tropical island in lottery

See if you can find a winner out of this lot!

Source: Reuters

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A 4-year-old boy has won the use of an uninhabited tropical island, with white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters, in a Taiwan lottery aimed at boosting spending during an economic downturn.

Officials said Yeh Chien-wei, who won the prize at Thursday's draw, will get exclusive rights to the tiny plot in the Taiwan Strait from May through September.

Penghu County, an offshore archipelago, will provide food, drinks, water and electricity to the boy. He has been quoted in local media saying he wants to play in the sea.

"Penghu has a lot of islands, and that one has water and electricity, so someone can really enjoy it," said county economic promotion official Lu Yan-chang, explaining why use of the island, which also has a cabin, was offered as a prize.

Counties elsewhere in Taiwan have offered cars, houses and other prizes to encourage locals to spend consumer vouchers worth T$3,600 ($103) that the government gave to every citizen in January to encourage spending to help boost the sagging economy.

This is ludicrous. How can a 4-year old boy win the lottery? Isn't there a legal gambling age? I know that the economy is bad but to let 4-year olds play the lottery and win is so unprincipled.

Trouble for nude photo clinic

Source: AsiaOne

TAIPEI - A TAIWAN clinic is likely to be fined after allowing two of its nurses to pose nude in an advertising campaign.

'Of course we're going to prosecute. What they did violates the law,' said Chen Yueh-ying, a Tainan city health department official.

Taiwan businesses often photograph young, fashionably dressed woman for advertisements or put them on stage for promotional events, but they are seldom shown naked.

Mr Chen told Reuters that clinics were not the same as normal businesses, and the adverts fell foul of medical conduct rules.

Strange law. You can have a girl practically naked hold up an iPhone in an ad but because this is medical there are different laws? I would think that the health department be exempt because they are usually using nude models to raise money for a causes such as breast cancer. And the ad isn't nude! There are no naughty bits being shown.

Taiwan's United Daily News, which carried one of the photos in question on Saturday, said the shots had outraged a local nurses association, which complained that their profession's image had been soiled.

Oh come on! I think the nurse profession has been soiled many times over. Just walk into any porn shop!

Non-Stop Train?

We all seen videos of the subway commute in Japan.

Here's an example:


Youtube Link

And I've also heard that the trains in Japan are always on time. It's never late. Of course Taiwan has to improve on this system and come up with a non-stop train!


Youtube Link

So you get onto a little car that gets scooped up by a train? That can't be a smooth transition can it? You'd spill alot of coffee! Also if you travelled a longer distance you'd have to walk down into the train and then walk back up? In a packed train that wouldn't work. And how many times have you been on a train listening to music or gabbing to a friend and didn't quite notice that your stop is coming soon and rushed out of the train. Can't do that here! Or if a fat guy was in your way and you couldn't make it back up into the small car. You'd be stuck forever!

Not a good idea! I can predict alot of chaos, stress and fist fights! Not to mentions accidents! Hey if a roller coaster can run off the tracks, so can this!

Another idea some academic invented who's never taken a ride on a train during rush hour.