Compiled by Martin Williams
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Persepolis This is an award-winning French animated film based on the autobiographical graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, and is also nominated for best animated film at the Oscars on Sunday. It’s about a spirited girl growing up in Tehran before and after the Islamic revolution. Her worried parents send her to live in Vienna after fearing for her safety, but there she finds herself an outsider. When she returns to Iran as an adult, things are no better. The story may be downbeat but critics are raving about its humor and humanity. It’s worlds away from Hollywood animated product, and makes for a fascinating comparison with Rambo, another cartoon about political and social oppression that starts today. | |
Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara Yoshitomo Nara is a renowned Japanese pop artist whose works feature cute, cartoon-like children and creatures, sometimes with sinister elements thrown in. Nara is well regarded around the world, and this documentary follows him on an international tour, which includes Taipei, as the artist takes on collaborative projects for the first time.
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Perng Mang: The Haunted Drum More eclectic Thai horror in this period piece as a young man of social standing in the early 19th century learns how to play the possessed drum of the title, which turns out to have romantic advantages but fatal consequences for a good number of characters. Thai film buffs sneered at this one, which was made by two first-time directors. Good for a few kooky death scenes, though, as the drum — made from the skin of a beautiful woman — attracts the attention of a rival musician. |
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and