My Best Friend’s Girl
Jason Biggs (American Pie) is back, but he’s not the main character in this, the latest rude and sexually aggressive comedy to come from the US. Dustin (Biggs) adores Alexis (Kate Hudson), but the feeling isn’t mutual, so he calls on his buddy Tank (Dane Cook) to weave his manly magic and disgust her so grievously on a date that she will flee back to our Jason. But — you guessed it — the two hit it off instead. Wicked, politically incorrect humor abounds, but Variety warns of a possible altered ending to pacify preview audiences, which suggests that director Terry Zwigoff (Bad Santa) might have been the man to stand up to the studio and keep the mayhem real instead of Howard Deutch.
Passengers
Peter Weir’s Fearless from 1993 has been on cable TV lately, and fans of that fine film might be interested in a similarly themed offering in Passengers. As with Fearless, this film focuses on plane crash survivors and their debilitating traumas, but unlike Weir’s film, this one is just as interested in thriller elements in the form of mysterious characters, twists and revelations. Case in point: Attendees at a counseling session start disappearing. Stars Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson and David Morse.
Finishing the Game
The “game” is Game of Death, the film that Bruce Lee didn’t finish shooting before his tragically premature death. In this “mockumentary,” a bunch of luckless Asian American actors, including Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street), vie to be the one to replace Lee in the completion of the kung fu classic. M.C. Hammer, George Takei and Ron Jeremy appear in cameos. It’s taken a little while to get released here, which is a little surprising given that director Justin Lin (林詣彬), who directed the third Fast and the Furious entry, has Taiwanese heritage.
Seraphine
Fittingly released here in the week of the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, this is a French film based on the relationship between famed painter Seraphine Louis and art enthusiast Wilhelm Uhde. Uhde spies the struggling Seraphine’s art while visiting her village on the eve of the war and their patron-client relationship blossoms, but bloody conflict and personal vulnerability take a heavy toll. Yolande Moreau (Amelie) stars as the troubled artist in a film that is receiving warm reviews.
One Piece The Movie: Episode of Chopper — Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Sakura
Those crazy anime pirates are back in action in this perennial series, this time revisiting the story of Chopper — the crew’s adolescent medic and transformable blue-nosed reindeer —for the first time since 2002. A search by the Straw Hat pirates for a doctor brings them to an island kingdom where danger and evil characters lurk and preparations for battle are made, but also where a horned hero waits in the wings.
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
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