Rated PG, directed by Brian Robbins, with Keanu Reeves (Conor O'Neill), Diane Lane (Elizabeth Wilkes), John Hawkes (Ticky Tobin), Bryan C. Hearne (Andre Ray Peetes), Julian Griffith (Jefferson Albert Tibbs), A. Delo Ellis Jr (Miles Pennfield II), running time: 110 minutes.
Conor O'Neill is a low-level gambler who, when his debts accumulate into the thousands of dollars, discovers he has baseball bat-toting thugs chasing him. Desperate to bail himself out, he enlists the help of an investment banker friend on whom he's leaned more than once. The friend's help comes in the form of an offer to coach a little league baseball team for US$500 a week. O'Neill reluctantly takes the job, only to find he's better suited to it than he thought. As he takes to his team of inner-city kids -- and as a teacher who frequents the sidelines takes to him -- he comes to realize his own worth and the value of responsibility. Deliberate tugs on the heartstrings may leave some audience members wishing they'd rented The Bad News Bears instead.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MATA
If one asks Taiwanese why house prices are so high or why the nation is so built up or why certain policies cannot be carried out, one common answer is that “Taiwan is too small.” This is actually true, though not in the way people think. The National Property Administration (NPA), responsible for tracking and managing the government’s real estate assets, maintains statistics on how much land the government owns. As of the end of last year, land for official use constituted 293,655 hectares, for public use 1,732,513 hectares, for non-public use 216,972 hectares and for state enterprises 34 hectares, yielding
The small platform at Duoliang Train Station in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) served villagers from 1992 to 2006, but was eventually shut down due to lack of use. Just 10 years later, the abandoned train station had become widely known as the most beautiful station in Taiwan, and visitors were so frequent that the village had to start restricting traffic. Nowadays, Duoliang Village (多良) is known as a bit of a tourist trap, with a mandatory, albeit modest, admission fee of NT$10 giving access to a crowded lane of vendors with a mediocre view of the ocean and the trains
For many people, Bilingual Nation 2030 begins and ends in the classroom. Since the policy was launched in 2018, the debate has centered on students, teachers and the pressure placed on schools. Yet the policy was never solely about English education. The government’s official plan also calls for bilingualization in Taiwan’s government services, laws and regulations, and living environment. The goal is to make Taiwan more inclusive and accessible to international enterprises and talent and better prepared for global economic and trade conditions. After eight years, that grand vision is due for a pulse check. RULES THAT CAN BE READ For Harper Chen (陳虹宇), an adviser
Traditionally, indigenous people in Taiwan’s mountains practice swidden cultivation, or “slash and burn” agriculture, a practice common in human history. According to a 2016 research article in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability, among the Atayal people, this began with a search for suitable forested slopeland. The trees are burnt for fertilizer and the land cleared of stones. The stones and wood are then piled up to make fences, while both dead and standing trees are retained on the plot. The fences are used to grow climbing crops like squash and beans. The plot itself supports farming for three years.
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