David on Formosa

After a resurgence in 2008 on the back of the success of Cape No. 7 (海角七號), Taiwanese cinema quietly consolidated in 2009. While there were no great successes at the box office there were a number of quality films released. The Taiwanese films I saw and reviewed in 2009 were Detours to Paradise (歧路天堂), Beautiful [...]

The winners of the 2009 Taiwan blog awards have been announced at Taiwanderful. Special congratulations to A Hungry Girl’s Guide to Taipei for winning the peer-judged award for overall best blog. shu flies won the online vote for the overall best blog. Thanks to Ben, Portnoy, Carrie, Todd and DJ Marcus for judging the blogs [...]

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus is hitting Taichung and Taipei this Friday and Saturday. This is the third Circus, a semi-annual event, in Taiwan. It is set to continue the tradition of wild and entertaining shows. The Circus is the brainchild of The Deadly Vibes, a garage rock trio based in Yilan. The band has [...]

More than a thousand workers from Southeast Asia marched through the streets of Taipei today. The march had the slogan “Still no day off” (還沒休假), calling on the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to ensure that workers have one day off per week. Taiwan has more than 300,000 migrant workers from Southeast Asia.

Miss Kicki (霓虹心) directed by Hakon Liu (劉漢威) is a tale that brings a Swedish mother and son to Taiwan. Kicki, played by Pernilla August, is a Swedish woman with a wild past and her son Viktor, played by Ludwig Palmell, has been raised by his grandmother. Kicki leads her son to believe that the [...]

On Saturday afternoon I headed to Ximending (西門町) to meet a friend and see what was happening. The place was abuzz with activity. One of the first things I spotted was this concert going on in the plaza beside the Red Theatre (紅樓). The plaza also has a lively market where young designers and artists [...]