[Misadventures in Taiwan]

Scooter Masks, Helmet Cloth Linings, and Oversized Gloves

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:16:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

→ watch on Vimeo or YouTube

or/或者是

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if i had a million dollars

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 21:41:00 +0800

This video is really freaking funny. it’s a a song in the vernacular (Hokkien, to be specific, but if you can understand Taiwanese, you’ll have no problem understanding the lyrics) about a dude who wishes he has a million bucks. it mashes up the lyrics, however, with images of western pop-culture references (oh and the images in the video are not just randomly put together. they’re actually all connected to the lyrics too– that’s what’s amazing about it all. darth vader? the villain in austin powers? i’m sold.), and it’s really really funny.

for example there’s this part that says if he has a million bucks he can marry a beautiful chick. he uses an image of a bride juxtaposed with the words “me love you long time” (the first english sentence every east and southeast asian ho should learn in ESL school. kidding!!).

The Science of Noodles

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:30:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

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screenshots (點就可以放大):

new link for Misadventures in Taiwan blog

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:32:00 +0800

hey everyone, i've moved blog hosts because i've left school and soon this web.tnnua.edu.tw link will no longer be accessible as the school only offers free web space for current students.

please update your bookmarks and visit Misadventures in Taiwan at this new address: http://misadventuresintaiwan.gemismyname.com/old/blog.1.html

the blog and podcast feed remains the same at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/misadventuresInTaiwan

all links and content will be fully functional by the end of September (hopefully).

Hello Kitty Figurines from 7-11

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:39:00 +0800

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old fashioned shaved ice desserts from taiwan

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:02:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

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screenshots (點就可以放大):

i put up photos i shot from over a year ago of the same place i shot in the video in the 'screenshots' section because the still images i shot the day i made this video were too low-quality.

Taiwan On the Road

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:03:00 +0800

Tea Eggs

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:53:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

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zooomr's chinese traditional localization has gone live

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sat, 9 Jun 2007 20:34:00 +0800

免費無限制網路相簿 Zooomr 繁體中文介面出來了!

Chinese traditional localization for free, no-upload-limit, photo host Zooomr has gone live!

Goner- my graduation film

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Fri, 8 Jun 2007 22:01:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

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I finished this around November 2006.

Marble Soda

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:17:00 +0800

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All about Seaweed Rice Balls

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:23:00 +0800

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-------------------

by the way guys, sorry i haven't updated in a long time. i was caught up with real-world stuff. thanks to all of you who e-mailed and left comments. thanks for your concern! i really appreciate it, and i'm glad you guys haven't forgotten about me yet. =)

paging Tire from Kaohsiung

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 20:02:00 +0800

Tire from Kaohsiung, if you see this, could you please e-mail me Misadventuresintaiwan AT gmail DOT com? I need to ask you something. Thanks!

To my other beloved listeners and readers, sorry for not updating frequently. I've been busy with my graduation film, and other real life crap. =)

betel nut girls and pole dancers at a temple celebration

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:35:00 +0800

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screenshots (點就可以放大):

Where's the Gag?

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:23:00 +0800

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

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Satellite (a music video)

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:01:00 +0800

12-31-2006 update: Hooray! Satellite's been selected as part of "music videos and advertising" for the 2007 Festival Bimini in Latvia! (here's the link -scroll down, until you see "original title: Satellite/ Country of origin: Taiwan". that's the one!)

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Satellite (music by The Motion Sick) (I made this from September to October 2006.)

1. Watch it online without having to download/直接在網路看不用下載:

→ watch on YouTube, → watch on Google Video

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link to listing on the Internet Archive (Get Quicktime: )

這是我2006年九月到十月的作品.

screenshots (點就可以放大):

jackasses and hot girls

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 23:20:00 +0800

what's in this video: news articles about jackasses in China, and things you can only see in the Taiwanese countryside- like tiny crabs on beaches and hot girls singing Taiwanese-dialect songs from the backs of trucks.

(watch using YouTube if you don't want to download the quicktime file below. you'll need the Flash Player for this.)

click to download video - (or right-click and "save link as") -- 3.6 Quicktime .mov (encoded with h2.64) file

please download the latest version of Quicktime if you can't play the video
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taiwanese math notebooks are made for storyboarding

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 6 Nov 2006 17:40:00 +0800

today's video is all about productivity. The best notebooks for storyboarding your ideas and designs are not expensive Moleskine notebooks, but cheap-ass math notebooks from Taiwan. Watch this short short video to know why.

(watch using YouTube if you don't want to download the quicktime file below. you'll need the Flash Player for this.)

click to download video - (or right-click and "save link as") -- 3.5 Quicktime .mov (encoded with h2.64) file

please download the latest version of Quicktime if you can't play the video
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engrish notebooks

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:53:00 +0800

(watch using YouTube if you don't want to download the quicktime file below. you'll need the Flash Player for this.)

orwellian Taiwanese schools, what's chinese, funny notebooks

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:43:00 +0800

right click the icon and "save link as" to download the mp3, or click it to listen right away (9.7mb audio)

topics:
1. a Kaohsiung high school/ vocational school principal who checks Yahoo! Knowledge (Y! Taiwan's equivalent of Yahoo! Answers)and other websites for negative mentions of his chool. he'll then summon teachers to hunt for which student posted those offending (to him) items to punish (lower grades, etc).

2. teachers at that school have to eat at the same table in the cafeteria with students during lunch time. they're also not allowed to bring their own food from home or buy from outside.

3. sunburned badly for the love of art-- photographing sand crabs at the beach.

4. notebooks with funny Engrish blurbs on the cover-- more photos

5. Masons inviting people to tour their lodges to drum up publicity-- NYTimes article link (since this is an archive article, you'll have to pay to read the article in full. luckily, the NY Masons reproduced this article here ← click to read.)

6. taiwanese split over identity as "chinese" or "taiwanese". big news a few weeks ago when people discovered that many major government offices changed all instances of "china" or "chinese" in their english names to "taiwan" or other words (like "Overseas Chinese Affairs Council renamed to overseas Compatriot Affairs Council) original chinese names were retained, though.
other news links for this topic in Chinese:
慶雙十僑委會去中國化華僑深感被棄-Yahoo!奇摩新聞 and 機關英文名　悄悄改「Taiwan」

OCAC renamed Overseas Compatriot Affairs Council
2006/10/9
The China Post staff

Few may have noticed this, but the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council (OCAC), Taiwan's highest authority serving citizens living abroad, has been renamed as the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Council.
While officials with the council said the name change was meant to make a clearer distinction between Chinese and Taiwanese, opponents said the move was yet another indication that the government wants to "de-sinicize," or get rid of all words of phrases associated with China.
........
This time the council only changed its English name -- its Chinese name remains the same. The move was criticized as a way to bypass review of the Legislature.
"What we want to do is to achieve the biggest denominator for all overseas Taiwanese compatriots," said Cheng Tung-hsing, OCAC vice chairman and spokesperson. "There are Taiwanese independence groups who simply can't stand the word Chinese, and there are others who can't accept the name Overseas Taiwanese Affairs Council."
In fact, the government has already changed the English names of various overseas offices as part of its de-sinicization campaign. What used to be the Chinese Cultural Center in places throughout the United States are now the Cultural Center of TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Office).
Here in Taiwan, the government has also changed names of agencies in which it has a stake, without telling the public about it.
Chinese Television System, for example, is now part of the Taiwan Broadcasting System group.
"The Legislature didn't even know about the name change," said Kuomintang lawmaker Hung Hsiu-chu, member of the Legislature's Education Committee. "We'll ask for a clear explanation from these people when we review their budget next time."

t-shirts, barbecue equipment, cops in riot gear

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sat, 7 Oct 2006 23:09:00 +0800

right click the icon and "save link as" to download the mp3, or click it to listen right away (7mb size)

Topics:
1. Firefox t-shirt for joining Firefox Flicks months ago! (my 30 second Flicks ad)
(i'm not complaining, but just want to point out that it says size 'S' though it makes me look like i'm trying out for a nerdcore hiphop group if i wear this. in other words, it's too big and baggy for a size S. perhaps it's a factory printing error, or it's men-sized.)

2. The Motion Sick t-shirt (and other great stuff)-- super belated thank you since i haven't had time to update.

3. Moon Festival (15th day of 8th month of the lunar calendar, happened to be Oct. 6 this year)-- it's all about burning meat

I happened to be in the area to buy bbq supplies for our class's own Moon Festival cook-out when .. (read no.4) ← stuff bought from Carre Four (btw, no one dared drink the Vanilla Coke i chose in the class's moon festival bbq party. they also said that it's scary, blah blah. vanilla coke is really delicious! i can't believe people don't want to try vanilla coke.)

4. red-shirted protesters reach Tainan County-- I was able to shoot some photos of cops rerouting traffic and barricading roads in full riot gear but none of the protesters themselves. (NYTimes article if you don't know what this is all about.)

been hearing accounts of red-shirted people (or red car-driving people) being assaulted by people against the protests, so i haven't been wearing my red Motion Sick shirt (see #2) in public.

click link to see more photos from this non-event

5. Thank you Daryl T., Ger R., Eliot J., Joe #2, Andy S., and Jim for writing. =)

i'm back from the dead

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:41:00 +0800

click to listen to mp3 (or right-click and "save link as" to download)

sorry this podcast is crappier than usual-- i'm down with a cold and i don't have time to edit out all my "uhhms", "aahs", "you knows", and "likes" (i have to get back to finishing a project before its deadline).

topics:
1. famous Taiwanese NY Yankees pitcher- Wang Chien Ming

2. street protests to topple Taiwan's president- NY Times article link

3. found mail

4. engrish signs

The bottom of the first photo says "Ensure mutual respect between the two sexes".

5. moon festival- barbecues and bonfires

(there's a topless drunk onstage in the first photo. click on "All Sizes" in the flickr page to enlarge. priceless shot.)

6. okonomiyaki- a very special egg omelette

nothing to eat

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:12:00 +0800

the food down here in the dirty South (i'm talking about Tainan County, kids) is good and all, but there's nothing exceptional. there's plenty to eat, but the choices are extremely limited.

sooner or later the noodle houses start blending into one another and you can't really distinguish one from the other.

the only good burger place around here is Mos Burger, and even that's a fast food chain. grrr..

anyway i just found this post by a guy living in Taipei that echoes my thoughts to the last detail. the thing is he posted all these photos of incredibly yummy looking burgers. so now i'm hungry and dizzy and jealous.

anyway it's 12:12 p.m. noontime. so i'm off to search for the meal that will trump all other meals. or maybe i'll just have some instant noodles. or not. i don't want to die a slow and painful death.

ghost month 2006

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:18:00 +0800

(watch using YouTube if you don't want to download the quicktime file below. you'll need the Flash Player for this.)

-- 5mb Quicktime .mov (encoded with h2.64) file

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pre existing condition- the motion sick animation video

gemismyname@gmail.com (gem) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:30:00 +0800

Watch on YouTube

DOWNLOAD:

a.)--- 13.4mb .m4v (video for iPod) file: click to download video - (or right-click and "save link as")

b.)--- or choose Quicktime (.mov) movie (5mb)

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