Hotels throughout Taipei are whipping up Christmas feasts for those who yearn for festive fare
By Noah Buchan
Christmas throughout the world is synonymous with giving and receiving presents, spending time with family and friends and eating as much food as possible. Though Christmas has yet to be declared an official holiday in Taiwan, hotels across the island are wasting no time offering a smorgasbord of Christmas treats.

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Compiled by Ho Yi
Weed users beware: it may be a wise time to drop your unlawful hobby because the hunt is on for secret tokers. The long arm of the law has already caught up with a group of pop star suspects, which could spell the end of their careers.

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By Ian Bartholomew
Yoga has established itself as the next big thing in Taipei. The mushrooming of many new high profile and up-market yoga establishments in the capital's most fashionable districts seems undeniable proof that yoga, with its mixture of physical exercise and spiritual development, has arrived in Taiwan.

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By Ron Brownlow
Brenda Fiala is tired of being the odd person out at the karaoke club. She doesn't relish being treated as if she were "Godzilla" or "Miss America" while doing business in China. And she wasn't amused when a man propositioned her in a hotel elevator.

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By Noah Buchan
Bertolt Brecht is one of the pre-eminent playwrights of the 20th century because he created a type of theater that was meant to provoke reflection based on reason rather than a visceral identification with the action on stage — something he felt left audiences complacent. For Brecht, this complacency left audiences ill equipped to deal with the troubles that pervade society; problems that he felt theater should address head on.

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By Gareth Price
The Vinyl Word's DJ Poll has provoked less controversy than the Kaohsiung mayoral elections, but it is already whipping up excitement across the island. A strong showing for party scene-sters outside of the capital demonstrates that our friends in the south are mobilizing their supporters in the traditional patterns of southern electioneering. Up north, many of the usual suspects have cropped up again, with a few new faces.

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This new sword-and-sorcery epic, a step or two down from 'Lord of the Rings,' aims at the teen market
By Hap Erstein
There's nothing like the story of a boy and his pet, particularly if the pet is a dragon.

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By Christian Moerk
Dragons have been around for so long that some people have a hard time coping with the fact that they do not exist. "I got some very strange e-mails from people who thought they were alive and kept in zoos and used for military purposes," said Peter Hogarth, chairman of the biology department at the University of York in England, describing the response to his work as a "dragonology" consultant on the 2004 Animal Planet television special Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real.

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Wisps of color and suggestions of mood are not quite enough to give focus to this evocative study of teenage pregnancy
By Manohla Dargis
In this decorous trifle from France, the young actress Lola Naymark stares into space with moist, empty eyes, tossing her red hair like a pony fretfully swishing away late-summer flies. Naymark's enviable hair, with its springy curls and poetically inflamed color, accounts for much of this film's visual enchantment and also serves as something of an emotional barometer for her teenage character, Claire. The fiery mane either loosely billows, as free as the spirit to which it is attached, or hides from view in a severe turban, but neither humidity nor hats diminish its redoubtable bounce.

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The directors behind the 'Infernal Affairs' trilogy are back with a drama about revenge and salvation
By Ho Yi
Three years after the final installment of the phenomenally successful Infernal Affairs (無間道) trilogy hit the big screen, the Hong Kong director duo Andrew Lau (劉偉強) and Alan Mak (麥兆輝), armed with a production budget of NT$350 million and a stellar cast including Tony Leung (梁朝偉), Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武) and Shu Qi (舒淇), have teamed up again for their highly anticipated police thriller Confession of Pain (傷城). The film is a sensible melodrama that examines the gray area between good and evil where heartbroken individuals seek salvation.

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The New York Film Critics' Circle on Monday named United 93, a harrowing dramatization about one of the jets hijacked in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, as its best picture of the year.

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Address: 40-7, Alley 57, Ln 12, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei (臺北市八德路三段12巷57弄40之7號)
Telephone: (02) 2579-8909
Open: Daily from 5pm to 2am.
Average meal: NT$400 to NT700
Details: menu in Chinese; credit card not accepted
By Ho Yi
Winter finally is making itself as the year draws to a close. If you want to warm up with a spicy hot pot but are fed up with the mediocrity of all-you-can-eat joints, Yuan Yang Boulevard is a perfect spot for top quality food, attentive service and a tasteful environment.

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Address: 3-4, Alley 8, Ln 316, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路三段316巷8弄3-4號)
Telephone: (02) 2364 8356
Open: Daily from 11:30am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm; 11:30am to 2:30pm and 4:30pm to 9:30pm on weekends and holidays
Average meal: NT$200 per person
Details: Chinese and English menu; credit cards not accepted
By Ron Brownlow
Joseph Lu (盧家炳) and Chang Chia-chu (張家駒) knew each other when they were growing up around Chiang Mai, Thailand's second-largest city, but neither had any idea they would meet again in Taiwan and open a restaurant.

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Theater
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