Taiwanese media

i'm sure many of you would have some idea of Taiwanese media.. sensational news, free speech, anything goes.. and one of the biggest reason why i wanna come to Taiwan for exchange is to experience such a media environment, something totally different from Singapore's, something not restricted, something exciting..

indeed it is very different.. though i dare not say for the better.. for one it is seriously lacking in international news.. front pages are mainly about sensationalized news about anything in Taiwan.. politicians, artistes, common folks.. as long as the news sell..the gatekeepers feel that people are not interested in international affairs, they won't sell.. and so they keep them out of the papers and indeed people get used to not knowing about international stuff.. it's a cycle..

i'm have an especially strong feeling regarding this after reading my fren's blog entry on taiwanese media.. a story her teacher accounted in class..

“有 一次，他去一個講座，來聽的人是台灣各縣市的中小學教師及校長，講座完畢之後，只有兩位人舉手問問題，有一位彰化縣的校長問：　如果 與媒體抗衡？　老師覺得很奇怪，為什麼突然這樣問，便問校長原因。那位校長說：我們學校有一位小五的女生，她很胖，但是她胖的原因是因為生病，而不是亂吃 東西，但是卻吸引了一大批傳媒人去採訪。這些媒體問小女孩，你為什麼這麼胖？　小女孩天真的說：　我不知道～，媒體再問：　那你喜歡吃ｍｃｄｏｎａｌｄ及 肯得基嗎？年紀小小的小女孩便回答：　喜歡。於是媒體又要求小女孩在上衣打開，讓她露出團團肥肉，原因是電視台需要有畫面。校長立刻阻止，便請媒體離去。

可 是，事情是：　媒體們等小女孩放學，跟她回家，一方面又派人去買麥當勞，一方面又派人去買肯得基。小女孩回到家，她的家是於彰化縣的一個小小的鄉 村，家裡是十分窮困的，爸爸媽媽生平看到這麼多媒體，不知所措，結果媒體便叫小女孩揭開上衣，好讓媒體們拍攝一團團的肥肉，又請小女孩吃麥當勞及肯得基， 令畫面更豐富！說到這裡，我不禁流淚了，這是一個怎樣的世界，是一個怎麼樣的媒體！！！” - excerpt from here

i'm especially sad upon reading this.. this is the extent the Taiwanese media go to juz to get a 'good' story.. in the light of competition and media deregulation, there is no more ethics, no more morals.. whatever we learn in school is but thrown out once you enter the industry..

now i am thankful for the regulation we haf in Singapore.. at least we are getting a fare share of international news, i dare say we still speak of ethics and morals.. i'm so much more appreciative of Sg's media.. it's restricted but at least i feel it is doing what the media should be doing..

the way the taiwanese media blow up the slightest thing that happens in the community paints a picture of a chaotic and lawless society.. but it is in fact a pretty peaceful one.. it is not doing justice to the country and people.. it is not projecting the right image to others.. and the lack of international news is causing the students to lack a global outlook.. i was interviewed by a student about Sg's media and she could not understand why we can be interested in international news and happenings.. it never occured to me that it is weird to want to know more..

whoever said competition is good? it seems like ever since Apple Daily entered Taiwan, the media is juz spiralling towards more and more sensationalization.. Apple Daily is 2nd most widely circulated papers in Taiwan, in just 2 yrs after they enter the market..

台灣媒體死了一半 or so my fren laments...

CONNECTED!

alright.. finally managed to fix my com.. think i had some trojan attack.. sigh.. was so afraid i had to reformat my computer..

and it's all Godfather's fault.. i was trying to download a version with subtitles i could read so that i could watch for my Gangster film studies.. in the end i downloaded like 4 copies and before i could even get the one i wanted i got locked out of my internet access from the sch!!

there's a rule in school that states we cannot have a information flow of more than 5GB out of school or our access will be locked for a week.. i tot i had violated that which means that i had to go without internet for one week.. sounds scary..

and in the end, we still went to rent the movie from the video store cos tat's so much more convenient and i dun need to go thru another scare.. movie is 3+ hrs long.. din knoe there was a trilogy akin to LOTR in the 70s!

no internet access!!!

this is so dumb!!! i got denied access to my dorm internet cos apparently my com is attacking the school's DNS network or server or something.. wat the heck?!

and the computer centre told me to remove whatever that is in my com that is attcking the sch's network then they can resume my access to the internet.. so i ran my spyware and adware scan and also scanned my com for virus but nothing special came up other than the usual cookies thingy.. and the staff at the centre actually told me i might have to reformat my com to remove it if i dunnno where it's coming from.. AHHH!

and now the centre is closed cos it's after office hours!! argh!

this is so dumb!!

p.s using my roomie's com while she is away.. sigh..

go watch Saving Face

trailer

website










chinese community in america
mother is 48 and pregnant
daughter is a gay doctor
they face lotsa pressure from their family and friends

interesting plot, interesting setting and played by people from interesting backgrounds, it's indeed a great film discussing issues of lesbianism, 姐弟戀，Asian values...

and it's using comedy to reflect these issues which made it so much easier to digest and accept..

plus the way the american chinese speaks reminds me of singaporean chinese.. haha struggling hard to say the words but still used english inevitably..

just go watch it!

back to normal

now that i'm done watching Full House, hopefully life would get back to normal.. hahaha.. it was truly, highly addictive! and guess what i went to shop at Eslite Bookshop (城品書店) yesterday (it's those major bookstores akin to Kino and Borders but even bigger!) and actually bought a book to learn korean! i must be crazy... nv thought bookshop shopping can be so fun..

juz a little update to where i've been this weekend.. 野柳、金山、基隆夜市。 they are places to the north of Taipei..

and i've realised 3 things about places of attractions in Taiwan.. they are usually:-
1. Temples - 城隍廟、天后宮 and more.. they are everywhere and there's bound to be at least 1 at each place we go to
2. 老街 - in every town, there will be a 老街。鹿港 is a 老街 and so are 安平街 （台南）、内灣+北埔（新竹）、九份 and 金山
3. 夜市 - no place is complete without a 夜市。it's all about food and shopping.

this is 女皇頭，THE attraction at the Ye Liu Geopark.. really does look like a head doesn't it?

click here for more photos to 野柳、金山。it's also available via photo gallery at the sidebar.

thanx Siok for the prezzie!

a sense of warmth came over me when i saw a large mail for me the other day.. and all the way from UK.. thanx Siok for the wonderfully cute gift u made.. haha.. would love to hang it up but simply could not find a place in my cramped room.. decided to keep it nice and safe in the envelope and hang it up when i'm back in Sg in the hostel room.. hehe..

fighting!

i'm incapable of concentrating on my work...
i'm unable to get much progress on my report...
all because of...

FULL HOUSE!

yes the korean drama that was the in thing some time back.. i declare i'm addicted to it because it's just so funny! i used to not like korean dramas cos most of the time it's draggy and the characters cry every other episode..

i've changed my mind now that i've watched Full House. it's great entertainment and makes my spirits so high after watching it.. haha.. to anyone out there who hasn't watched it.. it's highly recommended post exams entertainment!

i'm still struggling with my addiction.. trying to get work done.. fighting!

testing... video of fireworks display

here's 2 videos of the fireworks guys in singapore will nv get to play with! muahahaha.. but think it takes a while to load.. juz started to figure out how to use youtube after being addicted to it for one whole afternoon the other day.. depending on my mood i might post other videos up! so watch out for this space.. it's getting exciting ain't it?

king kong's idea of a diet!

by hanyu's request, i'm going to haf this special series on my roomie i.e king kong.. (disclaimer: i haf 3 roomies, so this is diff from the other one that i've been mentioning so far..)
it's going to be a series cos there's so much to say abt her that it is impossible to finish in one single post.. and she's amusing me every other day so there.. i can create a series for her..

king kong is so named becos her appetite is insatiable... that is actually an understatement.. she can haf 4 pieces of thick toast (they are 1.5 times thickness of gardenia white bread) plus a pear the size of twice my fist for SUPPER! that's my example i love to give to describe my roomie's appetite..

the best thing was i heard she was on a diet, so for abt 5 days last week she was having boiled veggies for dinner.. but on saturday, she decided to start cooking her own meal in the room to my horror and guess wat she had?

1. butter fried potato slices
2. butter fried pork slices
3. roasted marshmallows
4. cheese biskuts

is taiwanese' idea of diet diff from mine? or it is juz king kong's idea that is warped?

i believe in the latter!

celebration that lasted 24 hrs

cos the fireworks display was done on the previous day at ard 11pm and we had dinner till 11 plus yesterday so technically my bday celebration lasted for 24 hrs.. haha!

with the same group of 6, we went to a restaurant called New York New York. to my great surprise they serve Chinese a le carte there and we ate Chinese food on a long table.. the decor is so Western and yet they serve Chinese food.. totally weird and after 930 they had live band playing.. which would be weird of a Chinese restaurant.. but the irritating thing is there's min spending and they insist that we haf to meet that even tho they did not let us know abt it.. wth but i shall not let that spoil my mood on my bday! but i'm definitely not going back there..

was sabo-ed on stage to say sth cos it's my bday.. cos someone else in the restaurant was also celebrating her bday and went on stage b4 that.. and we also witnessed a wedding proposal by that girl's bf.. haha.. i nv even get to see that in sg..

bday cake from the girl who shares my bday.. muz say my choc cake is 10 times yummier than this..

thanx these guys once again for spending my 21st bday together!

photo link is up!

finally had time to put the photo link up! currently only managed to upload my alishan part of the spring trip.. come back for more updates on spring trip and also previous getaways..

twenty + one

April 14th 1985, KK Hospital, Singapore
She was born

April 14th 2006, Taipei, Taiwan
She celebrated her 21st birthday away from home with friends from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong...

Thanx Hanyu for planning the celebration, esp amidst all the mid term reports and assignments and having to order the fireworks all the way from 高雄！haha.. and of course the other 5 for making it memorable! would nv be able to play with fireworks and 沖天炮 in Singapore so this will definitely be the most special birthday ever!

apparently it's illegal to play with fireworks in Taipei City so we were a bit scared that the police will come since we were making a hell of a din in the middle of the nite.. but everything went well and we were blessed with good weather..

ended the whole celebration with overnight KTV singing till 5 in the morning.. by the time we were bakc in hostel the sky was beginning to brighten up! haha..

p.s. all the candles here are like those on my cake.. in numbers.. they dun haf those like we haf in Singapore.. the last time i rem using this kinda candles was like when i was 5? haha

mid-term exam

i've never written so much chinese characters in a span of 2.5 hrs before i believe.. had my one and only mid term exam paper today.. production management..

it's open book but the teacher did not make his lect slides available.. so if u dun take notes tat's it.. the syllabus is vague and half the time he talks abt his own stories during lessons.. now that's why i dunno wat to expect for such a mid-term exam..

tot it was a one or two hr exams but it turns out to be 3 full hours.. 4 choose 3, 100 marks.. the answer booklet was in vertical lines to adrian and my horror thinking that we had to write vertically.. luckily most of them turn it the other way round to write anyway..

felt like a little kid doing my chinese composition cos i end up having to ask my fren how to write certain characters cos i simply forgot.. quite paiseh.. haha was hoping i had some dictionary like when we were doing composition in chinese class back in sg...

so that was my first written exam in nccu.. crapping in chinese is pretty new to me.. hope the teacher can understand my simplified chinese.. was commented by my roomie that my chinese writing is ugly.. boo hoo hoo.. tat's what happens when u wanna write fast..

resolution: learn how to ride a bicycle!

i dunno how to ride a bike.. is that a crime? maybe not but definitely a handicap!
why didn't anyone teach me how to bike before? why did i not learn how to bike before? my missed childhood.. my roomie doesn't understand why there are ppl out there who doesn't know how to bike.. i'm a city kid who grew up in a hdb estate where there are no parks for me to bike in.. my parents did not get us 2-wheel bikes and i did not need to cycle to school.. there's this thing called the school bus or the public bus that i take.. i can blade so tat's what i do when i go to east coast park.. otherwise i juz take a walk.. so who needs to know how to bike in singapore?

but it's a handicap here cos when u dunno how to ride a scooter in taiwan, the next best alternative is the bicycle.. and i know neither.. and cos i dunno how to ride a bicycle i can't get the motorized bicycle to balance as well.. so wat can i do? rely on my roomie to ferry me on the back of her bike which totally tires her out.. and she actually said she finally know how gd her sense of balance is! sigh.. so my resolution when i get back to singapore:

learn how to ride a bike!

我回到台北了！

after 7 days of absence, i'm back in taipei! finally washed and dried my 7 days' worth of dirty clothes.. i love the dryers here.. why can't ntu halls haf them too? those in hall 7 can't dry for nuts! but the thing is they haf this stupid rule that cuts off electricity at 12 midnight.. can't wash or dry clothes after that hr.. dun they knoe uni kids sleep late? sigh..

anyway that's besides the pt here... juz came back from a nice spring break trip.. well there's ups and downs but overall it's great! too much to write abt maybe will juz show thru photos.. took so many that my memory card is bursting.. i need more memory! 512mb is not enough! i still haf 1 unused batt to go but no memory left... so sadz..

summary of my trip:

day 1:
阿里山

day 2:
阿里山(看日出）
奮起湖
嘉義

day 3:
中正大學（流星花園拍攝地）

day 4:
台南

day 5:
鹿港

day 6:
九族文化村（玩了3次roller coaster！)
日月潭

day 7:
埔里（造紙)

a very brief summary of my itinerary.. tired.. shall go get some sleep and i'll be back.. still got report to write and a weeks' worth of tv shows to catch up on.. desperate housewives, lost, amazing race!

豆腐街

2nd post of the day.. ok quite free today cos going for my spring break holiday early tml morn! oh and there was an earthquake measuring 6.4 on teh scale at 8plus pm today but it was in 台東.. too far for me too even feel anything so to everyone n anyone wondering out there.. i'm fine!

anyway juz wanna share some pics i took yest b4 i forget...

this is 豆腐街 at 深坑 which is pretty near my sch.. juz a 15 mins bus ride away.. and wat else is it known for but 豆腐！

act this place is known more for the 臭豆腐.. but we din eat that lah.. tried it once the other time but wasn't spectacular.. juz can;t get used to the taste i guess.. and u nv knew that 豆腐 can be prepared in so many diff ways i bet! haha the funniest is 水扁羹、宋楚魚 and 連戰豆腐！

and since we're at 豆腐街 of course muz end the trip with a course of 豆腐.. it was absolutely a high protein meal with nothing but 豆腐... but it's nice!

alright.. cya in a weeks' time.. off to 阿里山、台南 and 澎湖！~~~

rubbish

u hear the oh-so-familiar music ringing..
the announcement goes "同學垃圾車來了！請把握時間..."
exodus of ppl with bags of rubbish down the flights of steps

this is at scene at the hostel at 915 everyday.. ok give and take 5 mins..
interesting huh.. yeah they do not haf those public big black bins u guys get in hall to throw the rubbish in.. all they haf is recycling bins for plastics, papers, foil products.. non for general rubbish.. so we've got to wait for the rubbish trucks which comes twice a day to empty our rubbish bins..

and it's like a social activity.. ppl start to chat and interact during "rubbish time"... u say hi to ur neighbours, to ur schmates... u start bitching abt ppl abt things that happen today..
always find it pretty amusing..

i like that they are into recycling and rubbish sorting.. i believe in that.. and they charge for plastic bags here which always makes me think twice on whether i really need one b4 taking it.. i think we shld do that in sg too.. it's ridiculous to buy a bar or candy and the shopkeeper gives u a plastic bag in sg.. but i absolutely hate it when i can't find a dustbin on the streets whenever i need one.. even at places like the 夜市 where u knoe that definitely lotsa rubbish will be generated.. inevitably they'll juz end up by the roadsides..

so this is the diff btw rubbish in sg n tw..

p.s. all rubbish trucks in taiwan goes ard playing a musical tune.. and it's the same in 高雄 or 台北.. i've made a mental note to record it down sometime but haf not gotten down to doing it.. ~~~