Merry Christmas or Solstice or Hanukkah or Saturnalia or whatever it is you are celebrating these days. Have a few links to get you through a tough day of heavy food and light talk....
TAIWAN MOURNS: Ai Lijima, Japanese porn star and AIDS awareness campaigner, was found dead, an apparent suicide. Big news here where she had a huge following; a local TV news anchor said she was called in on Christmas to report on this urgent news. [insert mandatory bad male organ pun here]. UPDATE: A commenter below notes:Remember when you first came and everyone was rude and the street dogs had no hair? Now it is you who is rude and has no hair..... Pashan does a historic trail to Nanao Taiwan bangus is just not as good. Wish I knew what Bangus was... Taiwan 660 on the SIU/SIG's continuing attempt to get Chen's release repealed. The gambling scandal in Taiwan baseball continues to unfold. Anarchy in Taiwan on the protests against unpaid vacations Taking a bus in Taichung: nerves required. The Foreigner notes that in accepting pandas we've become part of the PRC. Cross-Strait Peace Plan from the KMT? Just an outline, actually. Did the ChiComs penetrate Taiwan's F-16 recon missions? A-gu observes how depressing the current administration is. To which should be added, the complete lack of leadership on the economic issues. A Catholic priest from Africa on being black in Taiwan Wild at Heart brings videos on consumption, climate change Jenna thinks Taiwan has the true meaning of Christmas
Interestingly, there's a Japanese article looking at how her death was reported on such a large scale in Taiwan. Its take is that when Iijima's porn material was one of the first pornographic material to be legally sold in Taiwan - it marked the beginning of an era of openness and freedom of expression. In addition, she was the common link between nearly all men born in the 60's and 70's, because almost all of them hid in their bedroom and watched her videos at one point or anotherMEDIA: China poisons the world again. Jobless Filipino workers return home. 18,000 chickens killed after bird flu is discovered. The special prosecutors appeal decision to release Chen Shui-bian without bail. Links no panacea for the Taiwan economy: Taiwan News points out that they sold everything to China and got nothing in return. "Tonnage through Kaohsiung and Keelung may rise initially thanks to superior infrastructure and reduced freight costs that are expected to help Taiwan shippers save about NT$1.2 billion annually, or about half of the printing costs for the future consumer voucher program." David Kilgour, Canadian parliamentarian, on human rights in Taiwan and China. CNA on the English village in I-lan. The Su-hua Highway being DOA, the government is proposing another East Coast highway. The Chen prosecutors admit OOPS "we threw out personal info without shredding" apparently in total violation of the law (sez pro-KMT UDN) butdidyouseehowmuchthatbadbadbadChenShuibianstole? Our Cargo Cultists who claimed Chinese investment will cure Taiwan of all ills forgot (Ma save us!) that China hadn't issued rules for investment here. Now it has. Taiwanese villages to vote on German firm's wind farm. China is really really really interested in building an aircraft carrier. Really. KMT legislator Diane Lee's hilarious saga of denial of her US citizenship lurched closer to its inevitable conclusion today. Panda bowel movements make news.
SPECIAL: I've been saying that the US Establishment wants to sell Taiwan to China to achieve "better relations" (= $$$$) and lo and behold the Atlanta Constitution hosts an opinion piece advocating Obama do just that from current large cable company director in Taiwan who is also former Carlyle manager (the big and hugely influential private equity firm), former Dem candidate for Congress, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
EVENTS: Join Brian the Hypnotist for four days in Bali.
HELP: From a Reader Comment
I am opening a (proper) BBQ/ steak house in Hsinchu. My theme is a cowboy/western environment. However I am having difficulty finding stuff related to it in Taiwan.
I was wondering if you or your reader would know about places/ranch/farm where I might find some items like: Wagon wheels, barrels, hats, lasso, old cowboy boots or anything related to the theme.
If anyone could help me, it would greatly be appreciated. I will have a couple of free meals for any help.
Thanks in advance.
Ian
ianlambert1@hotmail.com
www.itsavideotv.com
[Taiwan]
7 comments:
So....
has the current US establishment , "democract" party (or should I say "I kowtow to china" party, and the rest of the wall street assholes/child molestors set the time line for selling Taiwan to china yet?
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Canada just had it's first nation-wide white Christmas since 1971. Vancouver just got 60 cm dumped on it! Very unusual for this city.
Anyhow, may you and your family have a peaceful and happy holiday, Michael!
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Merry X-Mas!!
Yes, it's very sad that the star, Ai Lijima, has died. I saw it on the news and couldn't believe it: Why would someone of such fortunate status commit suicide? We would never know and should count ourselves as humble and lucky.
All the best of wishes to you and Happy New Year 2009! Hoping to catch the fireworks around the 101 tower this year!!
To Your Health!
Regarding the cowboy/western stuff, you should try eBay.com. I saw several old wagon wheels and other western items listed there.
Having the items shipped to Taiwan might be an issue, but I think that most sellers would be willing to work with you regarding shipping charges.
Iijima Ai story -
Hee hee hee. Well, I wasn't exactly called in... My editor didn't allow all 7 of us on the "生活" team to have the 25th off in the first place when we were filling out our shift schedules for this month at the end of last month. He anticipated we'd be doing Christmas news on Christmas, which is reasonable. Who knew, the day comes and we did no Christmas news at all. Instead, I was even stuck doing the story of how Iijima Ai went on a variety show a few years ago, saying that a Taiwanese fortune teller predicted that she may die in 3 years. And since we have so little archive footage of her, we had to use a Youtube video of her singing in a vinyl super mini skirt suit, and another one of her in a bikini, sumo wrestling with another voluptuous woman, also in a revealing swimsuit. And yes, the footage of her on the variety show was also from Youtube. For the entire story, we used youtube clips and pictures of her blog...
We get this kind of craziness all the time, I just didn't expect to be asked to use my Japanese skills to do such silly tabloid news, AND on my favorite day of the year.
This is one Christmas I'll never forget. And one Christmas I'll never let my editor forget. ;)
Re: cause of Iijima Ai's death
The latest news is that her body had been decomposing for a week before it was found, so the coroner is having a hard time determining the cause of death. Japanese media reports that she had a high fever right before dying. http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/081226/gnd1226003-n1.htm
Interestingly, there's a Japanese article looking at how her death was reported on such a large scale in Taiwan. Its take is that when Iijima's porn material was one of the first pornographic material to be legally sold in Taiwan - it marked the beginning of an era of openness and freedom of expression. In addition, she was the common link between nearly all men born in the 60's and 70's, because almost all of them hid in their bedroom and watched her videos at one point or another (this latter part, my editor explained to me; he did it too, he said. hahaha...).
http://mainichi.jp/select/world/news/20081227ddm007030136000c.html
Taiwanese media may have talked about this, but I must have missed it. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to read up on the subject very much, and I didn't.
So I guess to some, Iijima Ai is also a symbol of freedom to porn! I never thought of it this way, but I guess it makes sense too.
That's very interesting, Michella. I was in Taiwan at the time, in 1989, and remember the dearth of easily available porn. Not that I ever looked. I was just carrying out surveys for cross cultural comparison.
Michael
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