May 23, 2011

Graduation Trip in Hong Kong

Time slips like water through our fingers; junior year is ending in the blink of an eye! To cherish the last summer vacation in our college life, my friends and I decided to go to a graduation trip as soon as this semester is over. Concerning our destination, we discussed about some possible alternatives in Asia, including those popular countries like Korea or Thailand, etc. (We even put Japan into consideration while its traveling tours are on big sale lately.) Finally, we made unanimous decision to go to Hong Kong, seeing that some of my friends are desperate to visit Disneyland. (Later on, we realized many visitors or even the locals’ impression on it was barely tolerable due to its small scale, which gave me a bad feeling that it might ruin my good old days in Disney California Adventure Park way back in elementary school.) Another tourist attraction that caught our attention was Ocean Park, which claims to be the biggest marine museum in Asia. However, it is also said that its scale is no larger than Formosa Water Park in Taiwan. What’s worse, I have also been to SeaWorld San Diego during the same trip to the U.S.; therefore, I don’t quite expect that Ocean Park will take me by surprise.

Despite the omen for some disappointing scenic spots, I am still looking forward for exploration and relaxation by sauntering in the exotic land, especially savoring miscellaneous local specialties. I have delved into information online as well as listed numerous must-eat delicacies, including Silk Stocking Milk Tea, Dim Sum, Wonton noodles, and so forth. Besides cuisine, Hong Kong is also considered “Shopping Paradise”; unfortunately, with limited budget (My parents said they won’t give me financial support since it is my graduation trip), perhaps I have to resist myself from impulse buying.

No matter how I feel about Hong Kong after this summer, the essence of this graduation trip is to cherish the special moment shared with my friends; after all, by the time of next year, we will depart from each other. Also, it is high time that we possessed global vision before stepping into the society. Therefore, right now I have to seize up the great opportunity and speed up the preparation for our Hong Kong trip. 


February 20, 2011

Elsewhere: Paul Gauguin

It is well-known that Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were once bosom friends apart from their individual achievement as eminent painters. Their friendship is exceptionally meaningful to me and my friend, Rita after we visited their special exhibitions held in Taiwan. Last year, we both took the “Introduction to Art” course which final report was personal reflection about the “Van Gogh: The Flaming Soul” exhibition. I happened to get two free tickets, so we saw it together and departed with vast knowledge of Van Gogh. This year, Rita also had an extra ticket to the Gauguin’s exhibition and treated me in return. I could not help but associate our relationship with the two artists, as if we are the embodiment of their friendship (notwithstanding their break up in discord in the end). The coincidence that we both had extra ticket to share with each other further heightened my expectation of the exhibition as we set out the pilgrimage to the Taipei Fine Art Museum this Wednesday.

The title of the exhibition “Elsewhere: Paul Gauguin” suggests that Gauguin was a wanderer in his lifetime who attempted to seek tranquility by drifting around and was exposed to miscellaneous artistic styles accordingly. For example, in the early stage of creation, he was greatly influenced by the Impressionists such as Pissarro, Cézanne and Degas who exerted bright color and vigorous stroke to mark objective nature. However, later on Gauguin came to realize those paintings lacked of genuine feeling, which reminded me of William Wordsworth’s definition of poetry as “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. Therefore, he turned to develop his own style of paintingSynthetismwith the emphasis on the flatness of object, the richness in color without vehicle, and the multi-interpretation of a general painting.


December 23, 2010

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Recently, I have been working on the journal of the Picture Books course, including giving feedbacks for groups’ presentations that introduced us to some well-known picture book illustrators. While I was searching for detailed information of one book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car written by Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond) and illustrated by John Burningham, I found a 1968 musical film on Youtube having the same title and also featuring a racing motorcar. It turns out that the musical was adapted from the picture book, and I wondered how the original story would be elaborated with dance and music. Moreover, the finding that the leading actor is Dick Van Dyke, who also starred in one of my favorite musicals Marry Poppins (or to put it more succinctly, he acted as Cecil Fredericks, the villain in the comedy Night at the Museum) even piqued my curiosity to watch the film. 

It starts with the early twenty century when people were enthusiastic about car racing. Caractacus Potts, the protagonist, is an obscure inventor as well as a single father of two children, Jeremy and Jemima. When the children overhear that their favorite toya wrecked racing motorcar of their neighboris going to be sold for scrap, they implore their father to buy it. In order to realize the children’s dream, Caractacus is desperate to earn money, including touting for a whistle candy called “toot sweet” and bringing an automatic hair-cutting machine to the fair. Fortunately, Caractacus happens to join a song-and-dance show while hiding from an angry customer due to the screw-up of the hair-cutting machine. Amassing considerable tips after the outstanding and impromptu performance, Caractacus brings back the neighbor’s wreckage and refits it into a refreshing and splendid car. Its name is “Chitty” because of the weird sound “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” on starting the engine.

Meanwhile, the absence of mother in the family is filled in by an upper-class lady named Truly, who gets along with the children and has affection for Caractacus. When driving Chitty to the beach, they imagined themselves setting out an adventurous journey to a mysterious land called Vulgaria, which is ruled by a vicious king Baron Bomburst. Baron uses every means to get Chitty, but ends up capturing Caractacus and Truly’s fathers accidentally. While following after Baron’s crew, Chitty is unbelievably smart that he can transform into a boat or an airplane at the critical moment, and even knows the direction during night. Eventually, they call on public to overthrow Baron’s dictatorship and return home triumphantly. The children conclude the story with “And Daddy and Truly were married”, so they really do in the end.


November 28, 2010

A Blissful Shop in Costco

I have been to Costco with my parents for several times, but none was as comforting and satisfying as this time when it kindled my passion and vitality for life that had been overshadowed by the heavy schoolwork lately.

Since the midterm week, I had been stressed out with piles of midterm papers and journals, not to mention the ensuing group presentations. The eyestrain and tangled mind due to the excessive gaze at the computer screen before going to bed had made me toss and turn at night. And the anxiety of racing against time to finish the work even became the source of my nightmare as I dreamed myself being late for classes or punished by teachers. While I tried to escape from the terrible nightmare, the waking moment was even worse. The inability to think resulted from the lack of sleep made me feel like a living zombie. Therefore, I was in a desperate state with agitation and frustration in the face of my inefficiency at work and the impending deadline to announce my guilt.

Everything has changed since this Friday when my mom asked me if I wanted to go to Costco with them. I hesitated for a while, considering whether it was sinful to slack off during the busy weekend; however, thinking that I wouldn’t have any progress within the few hours, I decided to step out of the gloomy atmosphere in my room and shrug off the bad luck that had been befalling to me. Once we arrived at the marketplace, I was stunned by two sights: one was the incessant streams of people (many small families brought their baby with a baby stroller), and the other was the miscellaneous Christmas commodities such as snacks and ornaments (almost every shopping cart had a box of chocolate truffles). They reminded me that Christmas shopping season is around the corner, which also suggests the end of the semester. I couldn’t help but feel gratified that I had managed to survive after choosing many tough courses in this semester.


October 29, 2010

Hilary and Jackie

This week, I watched a movie based on the real story called Hilary and Jackie. The film was a tribute to Jacqueline du Pré nicknamed Jackie, who was a cellist recognized as one of the prestigious music prodigies in the twentieth century. After Jackie’s death of multiple sclerosis, her sister Hilary unveiled the story behind her talented performances. Were it not the multi narrative arrangement of the film, Jackie’s reputation might be shattered due to some scandalous discoveries about her abnormal behavior.

Hilary and Jackie’s childhood is miserable with their mother’s domination to make them master in music instruments and win numerous medals. Ironically, they are bosom friends as well as rivals, practicing instruments together but fighting for people’s attention when being on stage. In the beginning, Hilary is under much spotlight with her proficiency in flute; however, her glory is gradually seized by Jackie whose effort on cello has also paid off. Therefore, she chooses to give up her specialty and gets married, escaping from the shadow of her sister by living in the countryside. Just when she finally composes herself, Jackie appears once again like a lingering nightmare. As a married woman, Jackie steps in Hilary’s family and tries to deprive her of her husband and children. Knowing that Jackie is mentally ill, Hilary succumbs to her first but drives her away after breaking down.

Apparently, the above descriptions are from Hilary’s perspective, so audience like me might stand on her side and denounce Jackie for her arbitrariness. However, the following story focusing on Jackie explains that the anomaly in her behavior is actually resulted from a lack of security. Jackie has got used for Hilary’s company during her touring performances, because that’s the only way to build up her confidence. On hearing Hilary getting married and moving away, she is overwhelmed with the feeling of betrayal. Therefore, she takes revenge by marrying a well-known Jewish pianist plus conductor, Danny, whose fame and wealth are superior to Hilary’s husband. However, later on Jackie comes to realize their relationship is built up not so much with love as work due to the nonstop performances demanded by her husband. Therefore, with much despair, she seeks for the trustiest person Hilary, and tries to experience what it feels like to own an ordinary family without the public attention. In this sense, the whole event comes to an impartial conclusion that the two sisters are both suffering from the reality: Hilary is overshadowed with inferiority to Jackie, while Jackie’s disposition is distorted with solitude.


October 14, 2010

Confession of a Taipei Dweller

This semester I take Professor Kate’s course called “Postmodern City Texts: Toronto, Montreal and Taipei”. The naming of the course simply suggests that Professor Kate is familiar with the three places where she had been living for a long time respectively. Literally speaking, this course deals with the comparison and contrast among the three cities: two in Canada and our hometown Taipei. However, the definition of postmodernism can be abstruse and ambiguous when it comes to the concept of Deconstruction. Therefore, in the beginning I was diffident about my understanding of the course and hesitant of whether to take it. It was not until I started immersing in the text and the film assigned per week that I came to realize postmodernism is not an intangible idea nor a specific time and space, but the embodiment of how we live in our modern life.

Living in Taipei city for twenty years, I found that I used to take every urban feature for granted, from the fast-paced lifestyle in general, advanced facilities like skyscrapers and mass transportation to the sense of indifference, loneliness and agitation. Moreover, I assumed that it was the milieu that assimilated me into a typical Taipei dweller that follows the fixed timetable every day throughout the year. For example, I got up every day with the disturbance of the deafening alarm clock, grabbed a bite of the breakfast and then rushed to school in a minute. On my way to school, I had to consult my watch, making sure I wouldn’t miss the MRT that comes every ten minutes. If unfortunately I didn’t make it, then I would have a cocked face, knowing that the start of one day was ruined. The same situation happened when I lost my head of my whereabouts in the street that I would immediately pick up the phone and call up my acquaintances for help. Despite the fact that our behavior and reaction are mostly determined by our own personality, sometimes the environment seems to be a magnifier, highlighting our flaws and problems and making them under spotlight in the public.

I had felt suffocated living in this concrete jungle until the course taught me to be a bystander about the surroundings. It began with the introduction to Montreal, a city composed of various expatriates that lead to cultural clashes and contradictory self-identification. I wonder if it is this complicated historical and social backgrounds that often makes us overlook the existence of Canada, because I recall we didn’t study the Canadian history or literature in the past. Nevertheless, after gaining gradual knowledge about Canadian culture, I am amazed to see that the overwhelming anxiety of the Montreal citizens actually strikes a chord with me. Take the recent movie we have seen, which is called NO for an example. The main character Sophie is an actress whose role in the play as a mistress turns out to be a mirror of her chaotic life in the reality when she has to deal with abortion, disconnection to her boyfriend, a relentless courtship by her colleague and a love affair with a married man simultaneously. Her frantic expression and conduct form a sharp contrast with her Japanese friend Hanako who possesses an air of placidity albeit the miserable suffering from blindness due to the atomic bomb. I think from Sophie to Hanako, the director Robert LePage tries to presents the human reaction from resistance to toleration in the face of pressure.


September 23, 2010

Cultural Tour in Western Taiwan

It is our family routine that we go to Changhua and Pingtung twice a year in order to visit our grandparents. Compared with most of my pals whose parents’ hometowns are situated at Taipei, I am supposed to have delightful vacations on the journey to the Southern Taiwan because there are so many characteristic counties we can stop by. However, since my family lacks a sense of execution, the travel plan often turns out to be a mirage with the excuse of either time limit or foul weather. Moreover, once my father says he is unfamiliar with the route, we know the plan is encountering cul-de-sac. Therefore, we used to head to our grandparents’ houses directly, stay there for a couple of days, and then turn back home. This summer vacation, we made a leap with a thorough plan beforehand and a portable GPS Car Navigation System for guidance. It’s not until we finished this cultural tour did we realize Taiwan is such a wonderland, possessing miscellaneous features that satisfy both natives and foreigners’ needs.

Our first spot was NTMOFA (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts) at the Taichung City. We arrived at our destination by noon, having lunch at a restaurant nearby which was popular among the Internet and recommended by my brother. The place is located beside a park whose designer is also the owner of the restaurant. No sooner had I stepped inside and took a glance at the interior arrangement then I felt a sense of leisure and coziness due to the decoration of wooden materials and the sufficient daylight casted through the windows. We were seated by a bookshelf with miscellaneous books laid orderly like a parade greeting us. While I was indulged in the homelike atmosphere, the menu diverted my attention. There were three specialties on the menu―bibimbap, shirataki noodles and Japanese set meals. Bibimbap is a Korean word for “mixed rice”, which is served as a stone bowl of rice topped with vegetables, raw egg and sliced meat. The restaurant elaborately added five elements of ancient Chinese cosmology―metal, wood, water, fire, and earth―to the dish in the form of five colors of vegetables, bringing customers not only visual satisfaction but also a wholesome diet. As for the shirataki noodles which are made of konjac, it is rich in fiber but contains low calorie, so it corresponds to modern women’s diet standard that prefers light food. After savoring the main dishes, we sipped at the osmanthus tea and nibbled at pineapple jelly, taking shelter from the scorching afternoon in the summertime and relishing the transience of idleness.



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