44 posts tagged “taipei”
If you're Taiwanese, of legal age and with a valid ID card... well, Merry Christmas.
The government is giving NT$3,600 (about US$100) each or NT$10,000 (about US$300) to a family of three to spur domestic consumption.
Now, if you're from Taiwan, what will you buy with that money? Oh, you can't use it at nightmarkets or sidestreet stalls since these usually do not have business registration certificates.
Hmm let me see, maybe I'll buy these:
Rainie Yang: Not Yet A Woman (Mike doesn't think so)
(I'm so glad nothing happened in BKK while I was away. vox was obviously not accessible in China su yi...)
I started and ended my Beijing trip with this skewered candy fruit called tang hu lu.
That first night in Beijing, I just had Sichuan (my favourite Chinese cuisine) for dinner and was feeling full so I didn't eat it. But today, I made sure to pass by Wangfujing before I left for the airport and bought a stick. Only to realise that I absolutely could not eat it because of my braces. The haw fruit is soaked in a very thick glaze that I couldn't even bite it. I hope the next time I visit China, I could find a version without the thick glaze. Xiao Mei's looked soft and chewable. Maybe they have a different version in Taiwan. BB, can I go to Taipei and check it out, ke yi mah?
I ordered this coffeetable book from Kino and it arrived while I was away so today, I went to pick it up. I can't remember now how much it cost in KL though it is definitely more expensive in BKK (probably because they had to specially order it from Taipei too since they didn't have it). But it is worth it. The book contains 50 illustrations by Jimmy Liao in the last 10 years including from "Turn Left, Turn Right (A Chance of Sunshine)" and even the posters he did for the 2002 Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipie's book fair in 2006. I hope I could go back to Taiwan soon. He has an ongoing exhibit at Eslite Bookstore (beside Taipei 101) and I would want to look for posters of his works for my collection.
Taiwan happy. China happy (I hope).
Is that Taipei 101 I see rising on the horizon?
I dunno but this CM really gives off the aura of the Taipei I so love. Jerry's not much of a singer but I like the song.
(Edits in red)
Something arrived in the mail for me today. And I couldn't wait till the 14th to open it. Here's a sample.
You already watched the concert, why would you still need it in a bloody DVD?
Well because there are a lot of things you don't get to appreciate during a live. And there are different venues, each venue with certain limitations. So there are some things that were not done in the other venues. And also because I can watch it over and over again when I want to. Okaaaay now?
The concert was held in an open arena in Taipei which was just perfect for the pyrotechnics used in the show (I was impressed with the shooting arrows on fire or something). The stage was big too with a lot of room for Jay to move around; there was a long platform that cut across the audience. In Singapore, the stage was so small that Jie Lun was having a hard time moving around with his dancers.
There were a lot of guests in Taipei (fitting for the kickoff?) from Yuhao (I didn't see the rest of Nan Quan Mama or maybe they were edited out of the DVD), Wilber Pan (hello Big Time, Wilber alert!) and Taiwanese balladeer Fei Yu-Ching who performed his Faraway duet with Jay. Yuhao did the piano showdown with Jie Lun what else.
A string orchestra accompanied him in at least three numbers (mostly songs from his Cowboy on the Run album).
For the intro to Malt Candy, they imported a bagpipes player (complete with the quilt skirt).
I loved how he introduced Sweetly saying "Tian Tian De" and gesturing with his hands.
He didn't have a cowboy hat for the Cowboy is Busy number; instead, he had a newsboy cap, which actually looked cute on him.
In one of his close-ups (was it in Fearless?), one will notice that Jay has a tongue stud.
The fireworks for the Fearless number was just awesome, as well as for Nunchuks, the finale.
Of course the costumes did not change. The peacock was still on plus some weird headdress (particularly during Ye Qu) in the middle of the concert (that he did not wear in Singapore or maybe I just didn't notice). And those girls who had to gyrate around him for, of all numbers, Ye Qu! I saw them in Singapore but I was just enjoying the song that I chose to ignore them. But on DVD, they could not be ignored. I mean, are they really necessary??? Their dancing made it look like a beer garden and not a concert. I'm just jealous. And please explain that giant pink shoe onstage???
I love how watching a Jay concert gives you the familiar and the unfamiliar. You know more or less what to expect. But what I have come to like is seeing the same set of musicians playing with him. So chances are, you'd see their transformation from fat, thin (are you on drugs?), long hair, skinhead but still the same familiar faces (Jay toys with them as action stars in one of the short films he directed in the DVD extras). These musicians just don't play for him, they play with him and he willingly shares the stage with them (even the cameramen have their moment onstage), especially the guitarists who even get to accompany him across the stage. I loved it when one of the senior guitarists (who also played for F4, the one who usually wears tinted glasses during performances and acts like a diva, er, divo) was also jumping with Jay and the two younger guitarists during Sunny Otaku (in the video). Eh malamang baka di siya suwelduhan ni Jie Lun pag di siya sumayaw. And I love how the audience is mixed; of course there are more females but the males are obviously not there merely to accompany their girlfriends.
But why is it that the acoustics part of the concert is bloody missing from the DVD? It's like an integral part of every Jay concert and it's not bloody there???
This happened four months ago. But I can't help being the swooning fan that I am.
First, they hug on national TV.
I mean, they were never like this when promoting DBY. Were they that desperate for high ratings for WWL?
Then there was the issue about the rings. They looked like matching rings. Couple rings.
But the most curious thing is, they wore it on their index fingers, him on the left hand, her on the right.
So when they stood next to each other and held the microphones on alternating hands, they looked like a match.
And God, they even pose the same (refer to collage below).
What's with that???
Jie Lun, can you sing Secret Signal for them now???
Then her shirt: "I don't know what kind of relationship we have."
(I haven't even touched on the colour-coordinated clothes that they've been wearing whenever they appear together.)
WTF Cheng Lin. Are you and Xiao Mei toying with me?
Because I am not happy.
Okay, I am.
But please, stop it already.
Stop the teasings and leading me on.
If you're just going to deny it and give me the "friends" cliche, then bloody hell.
If you're doing this just for promotion, then do me a favour. Drop it.
Otherwise, if you have nothing more to say than "friends" or do than deny, then please, do your business in secret.
Because if you're going to do this, then you might as well quit doing it cryptically.
Just say already!
If you can't or if there's nothing to say, then don't do anything like this, okay?
Quit flirting with each other in public. And flirting with our fragile feelings!
Paitou! It's not funny!
Because today, I might just die happy knowing all these.
But tomorrow, I might just die brokenhearted if it's not true.
What am I ranting about?
See below. (Click on image for bigger version.)
Not that it ever belonged here.
But you know, when you get married, you marry his family, his friends, his home.
I am not talking about marriage per se, baka.
I'm talking about how I married my job and found myself here.
I love my job so I have to accept everything that comes with it, including being here.
I like being here, don't get me wrong.
But my heart, mind and soul is just somewhere else.
Today, I found that even miso soup and sashimi cannot lift my spirits.
It was almost a pain finishing my food when before, I could not even get enough of it.
(By the way, today was also the first time I took a taxi with a lady driver.
It wasn't really anything special or different. Except that she had long hair and a jade bracelet.)
I browsed the Japanese magazines at the bookstore but I couldn't shake off this heavy feeling.
I guess it's listening to all these Jay Chou songs that's making me blue.
I so miss Taipei.
