If the attendees at the WE MEN magazine launch party last Saturday on the 86th floor of the 101 building are any indication of who will grace the pages of the latest addition to Taiwan's newsstands, then get set for one more magazine full of Asian models, celebrities and pop stars.
Among pages of beautiful models, expensive clothes and accessories are articles, in both English and Chinese, aimed at savvy, fashion-conscious readers. WE's emphasis on style, with pages devoted to high-end clothing and male skin-care products, might not appeal to Maxim readers, but it's not trying to. It's directed at a consumer society where looking good is equally important to being good.
Praised as the David Beckham of Asia, Nakata was surrounded by a troupe of models during the party. He didn't show much love to Taiwan's reigning prima donna Lin Chih-ling (林志玲), but seemed taken with Sun Zheng-hua (孫正華) instead. Bai Ling (白靈) also turned up, after managing to flash her breasts and underpants at an earlier press conference last Saturday.
PHOTOS: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES
The magazine's editor-in-chief, Kevin Lee (李冠毅), writes in his introductory letter that WE MEN caters to a new breed of men in the 21st Century and serves as a reference point for those who want to strive to be a better man for the woman he loves."
WE is the project of Lee, who assumes the role of editor-in-chief, creative director and publisher. It is a Taiwanese version of the Hong Kong-based West East Magazine, which explains why Lee's premier issue is filled with references to and articles from Hong Kong. This will all change when the Taiwanese editorial staff releases its official first edition in September.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not