Mogwai, Capitol K, Tribeca, FC Five and Taiwan's indie all-stars will gather in Wulai this weekend for the Autumn Tiger Fest
By Max Woodworth
It used to be there was a season for festivals -- summer -- and they came fast and furious, with Spring Scream, then Ho-Hai-Yan and finally Formoz, after which the organizers would go home and hopefully count their money and fans would return to indoor venues to get their music fix. No more.

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The annual festival is back after being canceled because of SARS last year and there are plenty of top quality free shows to take a look at
By Gavin Phipps
Canceled last year because of the SARS epidemic, the Taipei Arts Festival made a welcome return to the capital's arts calendar earlier this week when the event, which is now in its sixth year, started in front of Taipei City Hall with a colorful display of acrobatics, music and dance.

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Compiled by Max Woodworth
Taiwanese rocker Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) departed Tuesday night for North America on a 10-city tour that will take in San Francisco, Vancouver, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Washington and other major cities.

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By Ian Bartholomew
The Ping-Fong Acting Troupe (屏風表演班) is not afraid of reruns. This is because people keep coming back for more. Far Away from Home (西出陽關) premiered in 1989, was revived in 1994 and is now back with a lavish new production at the National Theater Taipei opening tonight, until Oct. 17.

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By Jules Quartly
Lush is back, this time with a "Fish 'n' Chicks" party in an Ilan County warehouse that includes "shrimpmaids" -- walking mermaids -- live bands and a collective of DJs.

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By Meredith Dodge
She's like the Taiwanese Cher but with a lot more syllables in her name. Tonight and tomorrow night Ouyang Fei-fei (歐陽菲菲), the Taiwan-born "disco queen" of Japan plans to grace the Taipei stage with her "Dazzling Concert 2004" (目炫神迷演唱會).

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"Behold, Danny, the islands of friendship that you have seeded with your pen and fiddle have grown into a network of musical brotherhood that now embraces the entire planet," says a recent statement posted on the Daniel Pearl Foundation Web site.

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An all-star cast of voices helps lift the latest underwater animation
By A.O. Scott
On our way to a screening of Shark Tale, my daughter and I fell into a discussion of Finding Nemo, a movie she has seen several dozen times. The subject came up naturally enough, since the movie we were about to see, which opens nationwide today, is DreamWorks's attempt to follow Disney and Pixar into the lucrative and technologically demanding world of underwater computer-generated 3-D animation. In anticipation of the novel delights of Shark Tale, my daughter was happy to revise her earlier high opinion of Nemo. "It's about a fish who gets lost," she said with a shrug. "That's not really very interesting."

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When righteous fury leads to grisly vengeance killing in 'The Punisher,' it's hard to tell the hero from the villain
By A. O. Scott
The Punisher, a Marvel Comics crime fighter introduced in 1974, is unusual among superheroes (especially Marvel colleagues like Spiderman, the Hulk and the X-Men) for his lack of super powers. His grim, brutal crusade against sundry wrongdoers is enabled not by spider sense or superhuman strength, but by guns, military training and righteous fury.

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Chinese ghosts on the silver screen

The Chinese Phantom Film Festival is part of the government-sponsored POP Cinema series and takes place from Oct. 15 to Nov. 30
By Yu Sen-lun
Long, disheveled hair and a green dead-pan face, with a long, white robe, standing straight and stiff. This is the classic image of ghosts in Chinese-language films. Different from Western ghost movies, Chinese ghosts are not necessarily scary or evil. They are therefore not categorized as part of the genre of horror films.

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Bond franchise shaken and stirred by Brosnan

Suave superspy James Bond's next mission has been delayed as MGM studios searches for a new actor to play 007 and for a director to oversee his 21st screen outing.

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Restaurant: Restoran Indorasa

Address: 2F, Taipei Main Station, Zhongxiao W Rd, Taipei (southwest corner) 台北市忠孝西路 台北車站2樓
Telephone: none
Open: 10am to 8pm
Average meal: NT$100
Details: Limited menu in indonesia and English. Cash only
By Val Crawford
Taipei's boxy train station seems unlikely to house adventure, but it does -- and like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, a few steps in an unexpected direction land visitors in a faraway place.

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Restaurant: The Sherwood

Address: The Sherwood Yi-Yuan Chinese Restaurant (台北市民生東路三段111號)
Telephone: (02) 2718 1188 X 3003
Open: 11:30am to 2:30pm and 6pm to 10pm
Average meal: NT$2,000 per person
Details: Menu in English and Chinese. Credit cards accepte
By Jules Quartly
Shanghai crabs (大閘蟹) from the rich waters of Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, China, have a reputation for being the tastiest crustaceans on the planet. They have become such a prized commodity that when they're ready to eat, after feeding all summer on weeds and snails, they're immediately ringed and flown out to selected hotels and restaurants in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian centers.

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