I learned from last year's camera battery failure and went to this year's Taipei 101 fireworks well-prepared.





I didn't really feel up to elbowing people for breathing space this year, so I watched the T101 fireworks from the Living Mall. A separate firework was going on above me while I was watching the Taipei 101 countdown, which pretty much resulted in a walnut-sized chunk of ash meteoring onto my forehead while my friend and I were trying to evacuate from the park.

It was a good time even though only Eric could meet me (Sherry was trapped in traffic when the countdown went off (!)). Evacuating was even more fun since we were climbing over walls to cut through foot traffic, and the weird comments/attention we got for doing that was hilarious ("What are these high schoolers doing? Are they doing that Russian wall-jump thing?").

2008
never thought this year would come-
Happy new year!

Norwegian Woods

One of my goals for my brief winter homecoming is to stock up on existing literature on Taipei street culture. My thesis project will be a Winesburg Ohio/Dubliners/台北人-esque "novel" of urban short stories set in Taipei, so I thought it wise to read up on (and interact with) what other Taiwanese writers have already written about the city.

I'm reading 黃凡 now and he's absolutely amazing. One of the problems I saw in Chinese literature in general is that, up till the '80s, it was almost an exclusively rural, political and/or diasporic genre. In other words, "serious" Chinese writers seem to distinguish themselves by rejecting urban modernity as bourgeois, petty. There are notable exceptions of course (圍城/Fortress Besieged and pre-communist Shanghai lit) but this was my damaging and slightly ignorant impression of Chinese lit in high school, that Chinese-language lit had nothing to say about the "petty bourgeois" daily realities of urban life in modern Asia. It did not help that my high school had a dated reading curriculum that included irrelevant texts like Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth.

Anyway, 黃凡 pretty much pioneered the urban/pomo novel in Taiwan. Instead of writing about 民族性 ("Chinese ethnic temperament"), the angst of East-meets-West hybridity, etc. (all those hallowed and laughably self-serious metanarratives of old school Chinese writers) he writes about Taipei's DIY craze in the '80s, architects with Napoleon complexes, the History of Sewage Pipes, etc. Petty shit, but written in hilarious prose.

What the hell, I didn't set out to write some ode to 黃凡. Where was I?

---------------------(back on topic)

The picture you see above is the (in)famous Norwegian Woods cafe in the Gongguan/ NTUniversity district of South Taipei. I've read it mentioned in Pots Weekly and 舒國治's "Taipei Wanderer" essays (among many other places) as a sort of cornerstone in Taipei's arts scene, so I decided to pay it a visit yesterday afternoon. It was easily the most intimidating cafe I've ever been to.

The cafe owner's a renown town personality. He's a book/music critic and huge coffee nerd, and if he doesn't like you he'll pretty much tell you that they "don't serve the kind of coffee you're looking for" and he'll show you the door.

When I walked in, the clients stared and pretty much decided immediately that I was not a familiar customer. The barista took her time serving me coffee (though the coffee was really good). The people in there were kind of absurd, cigarettes dangling between their fingers and piles of philosophy text/translated novels sitting next to their laptops. Most importantly, they were all typing furiously on their laptop computers. When I surveyed the room, everyone was writing on their blogs (!). I knew the blogging and online 散文/prose writing culture was huge in Taipei, but what the hell.

Also, this is what I deduced about the man who sat behind me:



Jokes aside, people there seem to be seriously working rather than trying to be hip/charming. So it was more a case of artists in hipster's clothes rather than vice versa?

I don't know. I'll have to check again next year to decide.

Misc Homecoming

[DAY 1]
Home again.
NO SNOW FOR 3 WEEKS MOTHERFUCKERS

After I landed and caught up with my mom for 3 months worth of town gossip, I had 牛肉麵 (beef noodle soup) for lunch and went hunting for DVDs/albums. They finally released the DVD for Exit No. 6 // 六號出口. Kind of a MTV-Taiwan streetpunk comedy/romance, but it's the film that I have a lot of affection for. I'm willing to forgive its contrived plot, corny lines and blatant romanticizations of adolescent rebellion because it understands -- like no other movie -- how Taiwanese kids wish they could live. I first saw it over the summer at the Taipei Film festival and even got to take a slice of the original film reel from the director (it's taped into my sketchbook now). Watching the behind-the-scene interviews kinda brought back my best summer memories.

The guitarist from Sugar Plum Ferry also released a concept album/post-rock soundtrack for a locally-produced (hot?) lesbian-themed movie that won the Teddy Award at Berlin Film Festival. Listening to it right now; really chill, glad I got it.

---------------------------------------

[DAY 2]



『如果青春註定要不斷地向前跑，
他‧媽‧的 我的出口到底在哪裡？』

Went to the "West Gate"/Shimen district today at around dusk to explore the back alleys. I used to hang out around the main strip in high school because that's what high schoolers tend to do in Taipei. Plenty of arcades, karaoke bars, Japanese knicknacks, restaurants and cafes to bring dates to. Kind of like Shibuya district in Tokyo. But then I rewatched Exit No. 6 (六號出口), which focuses more on the afterdark youth subcultures of Shimen. I've been thinking about it for days and decided to revisit the place again.

Like Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue and St. Mark's Square in East Village, Shimen's one of those supersized, over-exposed pop culture meccas. And like those two other places, it's sometimes hard to like precisely because it's so hypocritical and aggressively young. When a Taipei yuppie wants to show how corporate/ martini-and-striped-silk-shirt he is, the first thing he'll do is bash the district in front of his friends. "I don't go to Shimen -- it's for high schoolers."

Anyway, walking around watching all the cosplayers, hip-hop geeks and pseudo-punks kinda allowed me indulge in wondering what kinda aestheticized lives local high schoolers and college kids lead on these streets. But of course it's a hoax: no one actually lives like that. And I'm sure you're all sick of my redundant identity crises, but I started thinking about what it'd be like to grow up in a local high school/college and hang around this part of town everyday after school.

I guess that's also why I liked Exit 6 so much. It's all projection on my part. I'm observing from a quiet distance, watching these impossibly idiotic, good-humored and charming Taiwanese street punks embrace the best years of their lives.



I think I'm gonna be one of those dorky (J.D. Salinger-ish?) adults -- if I ever become one; I still get mistaken for a high schooler a lot -- who never outgrows his fascination with youth culture.

---------------------------------------------

[DAY 5]



It was dark (6PM) by the time I'd finished watching National Treasure with Sherry. On the subway ride home, I stood near a window and stared out down at the streets as they zoomed past the rail track. The train made a long stop at one of the stations, and near the station was a park where a group of uniform-wearing high school girls were hanging out. I guess I looked emo enough standing near the window in the subway train, staring out into the night, so one of the girls stood up and waved at me. I fiddled with my earphones and kinda looked away, but the girl didn't give up. She got all her friends to stand up too and they all jumped up and down waving at me, trying to get my attention.

I think Will Eisner said something to the effect of: never trust anyone who smiles at you on city streets. This is perhaps true to Eisner's NYC, but totally not true here. Random kindness is still alive.

新流浪運動

Heading home to Taipei again!
Concerts I want to see over winter break:



甜梅號:
2007.12.14 (五) 20:00 - 21:00 信義誠品音樂館 ◎
2007.12.22 @ Underworld
2007.12.24 (一) 20:00 - 21:00 敦南誠品戶外廣場 (甜梅號with代打鼓手or昆蟲白)◎
2007.12.28 (五) 21:00 - 23:00 植樂空間
2007.12.31 (一) 跨年場次@The Wall

張懸 12月 行程
12/15 (六) 台北東吳大學 校園演唱
12/19 (三) 台北醫學大學 校園演唱

Tizzy Bac:
12/19 政大

1976
@ Riverside 12/15

The Wall New/Old Program:
12/15(六) 旺福
12/16(日) The Concretes
12/28 橙草 / 薄荷葉 / 張懸
12/29熊寶貝 / 回聲 / Tizzy Bac
12/30 電話亭 / Nylas / 絲襪小姐
12/31 甜梅 / 滅火器

Figured I'd continue my photo habits to this side of the world. Autumn is beautiful, though I haven't been able to find much time to just sit around (I need at least 2 hours of quiet reading/napping in my room everyday). For better or worse, this is looking to be my busiest year yet.



Wilder Hall covered in ivy.



Absinth! Hooray??



Adam posing for a bottled water commercial?? We had 8 people climbing Moose Mountain yesterday. The leaves were not exactly afire with Fall colors just yet, but the weather was absolutely phenomenal.



This clearing on Moose Mountain was supposedly created by a plane crash. Creepy.



Finally, my sweet new dorm room! This is the central living room area. It's a little cramped for 3 people + guests, but otherwise it's the coolest dorm room I've gotten so far. A little old and dusty, but it just feels so damn collegiate.

Months go down like shots of soju

good



bye



taipei




And the people whom I will miss.
It's been the best time knowing you again.

Hello America.
I think I'm ready.

This one's for Moike

Just came back from a concert by The Thirteens (拾參樂團) where Deserts (張懸) was a special guest. She performed a cover of one of their songs:



拾參 was a blast as always, but this is the first time I've seen 張懸 live -- kinda surprising, since I've been chasing shows all summer. The thing is she's gathered so much mainstream popularity that her concerts sell out within 10 minutes they're announced.

She's very talkative onstage as people say. When she made her surprise appearance onstage today, she said it was one of the most relaxing and happy events she's done all summer. "拾參樂團 is a band that I respect with all my heart. Besides their talent in music, they also paint their own album covers and animate their own music videos. If you ever want to be an artist, learn from them and package yourself. Don't be like me and allow yourself to be packaged by other people. Don't lose."

At this she took a swig from her beer and tried to ha-ha laugh at herself but it's kind of a sad joke to laugh at. Started out as a high school drop-out, an autodidact who ran away from her mother to live on her own (she wrote 寶貝 when she was 13, after a huge fallout in the family), doing gigs between odd jobs. Now she's signed by Song BMG. You laugh with her and you wonder why you're laughing.

"Anyone else just got here after a long day's work? I know I have-"
A few people raise their hands.
"It's a Thursday. There are more of you here, I know."
Laughs. More hands.
"Gan, how are you guys not drinking? Where are your drinks your bottles your glasses? Raise em high. Fuck it, we deserve this toast. gan bei!"

On 拾參樂團's last song she passes around the tambourine and tells everyone to dance. "I know it's a little selfish of me -- I just want to see what kinda funny moves you come up with. But I can't dance either and I'm having a great time and you're more free than we are here. No reason not to loosen up a bit."

The Wall is usually a very polite and serious venue but somehow it felt like a friend's reunion tonight. I know what people mean when they say that hearing her is like catching up with a long lost friend.