To mark Pride Month in Taiwan, director Starr Wu’s gay-themed film “The Story of the Stone” is in theaters from today. The film explores the colorful gay scene in Taipei, and the screening of the movie as the closing film at the Taiwan International Queer Film Festival attracted much attention earlier last month.
The film is adapted partially from one of the “Four Classic Novels” of Chinese literature, also known as the Dream of the Red Chamber. The red chamber is portrayed in the movie as the “Red House” in Taipei’s Ximending area — a landmark for the LGBT community. Some film critics, however, have expressed concern about its overemphasis on drug use, orgies and HIV infection, worrying that this may lead to the reinforcing of negative stereotypes.
Meanwhile, directors Mag Hsu and Kidding Hsu’s gay-themed film “Dear Ex” is also set to open in two weeks. The highly-anticipated romantic comedy won eight nominees at this year’s Golden Horse Awards, including the nominations for best leading actor for Roy Chiu and best leading actress for Hsieh Ying-xuan.
Photo courtesy of the VM magazine
照片︰VM質男幫雜誌
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
適逢台灣同志驕傲月,導演吳星翔的同志電影《紅樓夢》將在今日上映。該片講述台北市五光十色的同志生活,稍早於上個月獲選台灣國際酷兒影展閉幕片,引發不少觀注。
該片部分改編自中國「四大名著」之一的《紅樓夢》,紅樓在劇中並化身為在台北市西門町的同志地標「紅樓」。然而有些影評人則擔心該片過分強調嗑藥、雜交、愛滋病,有可能會導致負面的刻板印象。
此外,導演徐譽庭與許智彥的同志電影《誰先愛上他的》,也將在兩週後上映。這部備受期待的浪漫喜劇,榮獲本屆金馬獎八項提名,包括男主角邱澤、女主角謝盈萱。
(台北時報張聖恩)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110