The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Robin Wright Penn is Pippa Lee, a housewife in Connecticut whose psychological history and social milieu makes it to the big screen courtesy of Rebecca Miller (daughter of Arthur Miller), who adapted her own work and directed. Pippa is married to publisher Alan Arkin and has an interesting network of friends, family and associates, but there’s no shortage of dissatisfaction in her life. Flashbacks to Pippa as a young woman (played by Blake Lively from TV’s Gossip Girl) help explain why. Big cast includes Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, Monica Bellucci and Maria Bello, but critics were divided on this one.
Couples Retreat
Vince Vaughn and wife travel to lovely Bora Bora for therapy along with three other couples, but the program on offer by the local resort chief (Jean Reno) is not quite what they expect. American critics liked the actors but retreated from the rest of the production, which — as with many mainstream US comedies these days — injects surprisingly crude material throughout in the hope of appearing lively, if not funny.
Om Shanti Om
Bollywood films never took off in Taiwan, and while this week’s release (under the mini-festival title “Bling! Bling! Bollywood!”) of two big-budget odes to the movie industry won’t change that, it will surely remind adventurous local audiences of the dynamism of India’s filmmakers. In Om Shanti Om, Shahrukh Khan (Slumdog Millionaire) plays the two “Oms” in segments set decades apart, but possibly connected through reincarnation, while Deepika Padukone is his love interest, Shanti. Packed with musical numbers, action, romance, color and dance, India’s trade office couldn’t have asked for a more majestic advertisement for Indian tourism.
Billu Barber
In this accompanying Bollywood release made last year, the wildly popular Shahrukh Khan is back as a movie star whose struggling barber friend, Billu, enjoys a new lease of life when the village Khan is shooting in learns of their connection. This is not, however, a standard happy tale, even though it is laced with Bollywood exuberance: Billu’s newfound popularity is mostly based on the opportunism and insincerity of his neighbors.
Noriben: The Recipe of Fortune
A woman in her early thirties leaves her husband and returns to her family home and community with child in tow to find that her calling is making and selling bento, and noriben (seaweed, soy sauce and rice) in particular. This is another in a selection of Japanese films of late that have older women striking out on their own. Oddly enough, this is also a manga adaptation, and it’s hard not to think of the first Sonny Chiba-Uma Thurman scene in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 when our plucky heroine asks to be an apprentice chef.
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
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
On Monday morning, in quick succession, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) released statements announcing “that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) have invited KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to lead a delegation on a visit to the mainland” as the KMT’s press release worded it. The KMT’s press release added “Chairwoman Cheng expressed her gratitude for the invitation and has gladly accepted it.” Beijing’s official Xinhua news release described Song Tao (宋濤), head of the Taiwan Work Office of the CCP Central Committee, as
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
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