Their names are Bill and Alice Harford, and in real life they're known as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The movie opened yesterday in Taiwan, uncut, uncensored, unhyped. Eyes Wide Shut has been titled 大開眼戒 in Chinese, which translates roughly as "Big Open Eyes Warning," which is itself a pun on a Chinese expression 大開眼界 that might translate as "Big Open Eyes Surprise," which might come out something like "Beyond Your Wildest Imagination" -- which is, we hear, what the movie is all about. The cover of the Taiwan edition of Esquire (above) spotlights Tom but not Nicole, giving readers a four-page spread about the life and times of the Cruiseman. Reviews of Eyes Wide Shut have been from bad to awful, but that shouldn't stop anyone from buying a ticket.
Republic of Taiwan?
John Hanna, an English teacher in Taoyuan and an alert reader of the Taipei Times notes that the new World Encarta Dictionary (April 1999), published by St Martin's Press and Microsoft, claims to have the most up-to-the minute information. He writes: Dear Off the Beat: Under its "Taiwan" heading, the dictionary notes: "A country occupying the island of Taiwan and neighboring islands ... claimed as a province by the People's Republic of China ... Official title: Republic of Taiwan."
Wishful thinking or what?
E-mail rants and raves to
offthebeat@taipeitimes.com
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