The Kiss of Lady X is guerrilla filmmaking at its best. Written, directed and produced by expats who have lived or are living in Taiwan, the film tells the story of a disgraced former secret agent who risks his life as well as the lives of his ragtag team as he seeks revenge against the charismatic terrorist who killed his wife. Ten years in the making, this low-budget, action-packed film makes no excuses, featuring daring full-bore action sequences, including a climactic battle aboard a master criminal’s airship. The plot is thrust along by the mysterious Lady X, a shadowy who seems to control the action. She is an agent of an intelligence agency that investigates paranormal threats and protects the free world from those who would use the occult to gain unnatural power.
‧ The film will be screened Saturday at 4:45pm and Wednesday at 1pm at Lux Cinema (樂聲數位旗艦店), 85 Wuchang St Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市武昌街2段85號), tel: (02) 2311-8628
‧ NT$200 tickets are available online at tickets.books.com.tw/progshow/01040001942588
Photo courtesy of Renegade Province Productions
This is the year that the demographic crisis will begin to impact people’s lives. This will create pressures on treatment and hiring of foreigners. Regardless of whatever technological breakthroughs happen, the real value will come from digesting and productively applying existing technologies in new and creative ways. INTRODUCING BASIC SERVICES BREAKDOWNS At some point soon, we will begin to witness a breakdown in basic services. Initially, it will be limited and sporadic, but the frequency and newsworthiness of the incidents will only continue to accelerate dramatically in the coming years. Here in central Taiwan, many basic services are severely understaffed, and
Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 Of the more than 3,000km of sugar railway that once criss-crossed central and southern Taiwan, just 16.1km remain in operation today. By the time Dafydd Fell began photographing the network in earnest in 1994, it was already well past its heyday. The system had been significantly cut back, leaving behind abandoned stations, rusting rolling stock and crumbling facilities. This reduction continued during the five years of his documentation, adding urgency to his task. As passenger services had already ceased by then, Fell had to wait for the sugarcane harvest season each year, which typically ran from
It is a soulful folk song, filled with feeling and history: A love-stricken young man tells God about his hopes and dreams of happiness. Generations of Uighurs, the Turkic ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have played it at parties and weddings. But today, if they download it, play it or share it online, they risk ending up in prison. Besh pede, a popular Uighur folk ballad, is among dozens of Uighur-language songs that have been deemed “problematic” by Xinjiang authorities, according to a recording of a meeting held by police and other local officials in the historic city of Kashgar in
It’s a good thing that 2025 is over. Yes, I fully expect we will look back on the year with nostalgia, once we have experienced this year and 2027. Traditionally at New Years much discourse is devoted to discussing what happened the previous year. Let’s have a look at what didn’t happen. Many bad things did not happen. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not attack Taiwan. We didn’t have a massive, destructive earthquake or drought. We didn’t have a major human pandemic. No widespread unemployment or other destructive social events. Nothing serious was done about Taiwan’s swelling birth rate catastrophe.