When the new James Bond movie The World is Not Enough (
While Brosnan will be speaking in English, the subtitles in Chinese will read: 我的名字是龐德,詹姆斯龐德, (wo de mingzi shi Bond, James Bond).
Did you know that phrase has been voted the single-most memorable movie line in cinema history? Yes, and the 19th installment of the Bond franchise keeps the tradition alive, of course.
The World is Not Enough will open in Taiwan after being rolled out much earlier around the world -- Nov. 19 in the US, Nov. 25 in Australia, Nov. 26 in Britain, Dec. 1 in France and Dec. 3 in Spain.
Why is the film coming so late to Taiwan, almost two months after its US debut?
"Some of the quicker rollouts have to do with the world becoming more homogeneous," according to a Hollywood insider. "When something does well at the box office here, everyone in the rest of the world knows about it instantly."
Obviously, Taiwan was not on the "A" list of early 007 rollouts. But Taipei remains an important "ancillary market" for many Hollywood films, along with Tokyo and Hong Kong, according to a recent report in the Los Angeles Daily News.
Blooming botanical gardens
Have you ever heard of plants or flowers named after celebrities or signs of the Chinese zodiac? In a bid to attract more visitors to the Taipei Botanical Gardens, park officials have come up with some interesting ideas.
For starters, they plan to set up a special display each month focusing on different kinds of plants, flowers and trees. The spotlight this month is on coconut palms.
In addition, the botanical park is planning to open five exhibitions on local plants, plants named after celebrities, plants that symbolize the signs of the Chinese zodiac, plants that are sensitive to human touch and plants that refer to Chinese-language puns and idioms.
A spokesman for the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute (林業試驗所) told reporters yesterday that coconut palms were chosen to start off the program at the botanical gardens because "the tropical plant brings passion to the winter season."
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