On Saturday next week, Urban Nomad Film Festival begins proceedings with a party. The lineup includes Taiwanese American DJ Mochipet on his first visit to Taiwan. Hailing from San Francisco, the glitch-hop and dubstep artist is heavily into bass and dresses like a purple dinosaur.
He’ll be joined by Taiwan’s own Funky Brothers (who perform with between eight to 10 members on stage at any given time), DJ Marcus Aurelius, and the electro-diva grrrls of Go Chic, which has toured extensively and is producing an album in Berlin with the help of Canada’s foremost electro artist Peaches.
Headlining the night is Japanese art-dance-fashionista-freaks Trippple Nippples. Think Lady Gaga triplets crossed with gross-out band Gwar, and you still aren’t even close.
Photo courtesy of Takeru Kihara
The three lead singers of the band make their own costumes, which have included rotten spaghetti and latex dresses, and rice encrusted headgear and body armor, by hand.
“The process we take while we are making the costume, etc, is the most uncolorful, sweatshop-ish part,” said band member Orea Nippple. “It’s like Third World, but we love it so I guess we can’t complain.”
The group’s wild stage antics and messy costumes have had them kicked out of various venues. “You should think about how you could mess us up rather than worrying about how you can get away from getting messed up,” warned Yuka Nippple, who describes the group’s music as “headache and stomachache and strawberry ice cream.”
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
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