the end of those singing contests

i heard that Tao Jing Ying's singing contest will be off the air soon. i'm glad. the whole thing was a waste of young people's time and energy, and indeed their dreams.
anybody with the brains of a brick knows that the record companies controlled the whole thing. they put their "artist" in (picked of course because of who his/her uncle's cousin's friend is) then use the other competitors to show how "great" their guy/girl is. then they pretend they signed him because he won.
the other reason for these contests is the number of independent artists who have said "screw the companies" and are selling their work via Tunecore, i tunes, etc. the record companies are scrambling to find a way to remain as the voice telling people what to listen to. so they make these contests and sit there as judges,pretending that "they know".
the emporer has no clothes! these guys sit there judging minute details about the competitors' singing, when it doesn't matter,because whomever they pick is going to have his voice processed thru auto tune anyway. they do it EVERYTIME!
good ridance to Tao Dz's "show" (circus).
And kids, let this be a lesson to you: just because some old witch says there's a lollipop at the end of the rainbow, it doesn't mean she's going to actually give it to you.

wikileaks and taiwan

wikileaks just confirmed what i have always said on this site: CIA is a big presence on this island. but that involvement went much deeper than a civilian like me could ever guess.
do i care? sort of. i feel taiwan should have the right to control their own destiny, if they can.The US using taiwan as their prime listening base (well they technically still own taiwan, having not officially released the island from WWII)is sort of a violation of all our rights. you want to live on an island to get the hell AWAY from big brother, and shit, he's here too!
and now AIT is talking about putting Marines at their new location when they move. is this a sign of a US military build up on the island?
hope not. taiwan took a lot of shit from US GIs during the vietnam era.not that "tai ke" probably didn't dish out an equal amount.it's just that the US military has a DESERVEDLY bad reputation, wherever they go. i hate to see that start up here.
personally, as long as CIA/FBI/NSA/whatever keeps low key,sticks to keeping China at bay, and doesn't INTERFERE WITH MY GOALS IN LIFE, then i'm ok with them.
just stay out of people's lives unless you wanna do some good.

taiwan foriegners: trust them.... not really

some taiwan people have asked me if i hang out with foriegners. the answer is, "not really".
i take people on a case by case basis. i have taiwan friends whom i love dearly, as well as japanese, african american, white guys, ABCs, south pacific islanders,India, pakistan, etc. all depends on if they're a good person and have a good personality.
so the idea of hanging out with "lao wai" is foriegn to me (pun intended). hell, i didn't hang out with whitey in college even. i was the egg (white guy into asian culture) at the "asian table" in the cafeteria.
and anyway, some foriegners are here because they're losers in their own country. i don't trust them. simple as that.
as much as i rant about taiwan, i would rather hang out with locals, because whatever faults they might have, i know what they are. asian cultures produce a fairly predictable personality, but even so there is a lot of variation in that. foriegners are a mixed bag.there are some really excellent ones,and some shity ones too who couldn't make it back home with half the level of woman they're banging here.
it's that lack of up/down in the personality style in asians that first attracted me to their friendship many years ago.
americans could be really nice or an axe murdering pedophile. there's just too much variation in the personality types. taiwanese, i know, and can choose my friends accordingly.

why taiwan can't do western music

classical musicians aside ( i think taiwan has some excellent ones, but they are rare too), taiwan just doesn't get western music.
take for example, if eric clapton were singing. granted, clap doesn't sing great, but then again, he's clapton for crying out loud. He is who he is. that's his voice.never thought about it til some taiwanese pointed it out.
in taiwan, they will say, "oh he doesn't sing that great" or "there's a taiwan player who is more 'li hai' than him. why, marty young can play 300 notes a measure" (which is lie, i can prove it...another article).
not that clapton is my favorite. just illustrating point.
taiwan people are always comparing one person to another. these singing contests have fostered this type of thinking. the average person thinks he/she can be a singing contest judge because he/she also sings karaoke.
also i've found taiwan students to be extremely lazy about music learning. they want quick results, even if it sacrifices really knowing what they're doing. they run to those TAB books, practice them, then try to convince others that they can play. then again, parents think music is a waste of time anyway, unless it can be used to compare with others or make their child "better" than others.
i never regretted being a musician til i came here. its really an ugly market. everyone from the idols to the guy who sells guitars thinks he's the SHIT! there is so much dishonesty and back stabbing. that's why i stopped teaching except for one or two really stellar students. you teach them something they didn't know, then they say "that teacher is nothing" and go on their way with their new info in their pocket.
then if you're a forigner, it doesn't matter how well you play. they'll just say, "of course you can do that, you're a foriegner. all foriegners can play guitar.you're here so you should be nothing compared to the ones in the states", so they think they don't have to pay any attention to you. then again, you still have to be careful, because local musicians hate being shown up. even if you're not trying to show them up, they'll think you're trying to show them up. ad infinitum.
why can't taiwan do western music? it's simple. because they lack a western mentality. i didn't say IQ. i said mentality. and going abroad to study at berkeley, julliard, MI, whatever, won't change a thing.
until taiwan changes their way of thinking, they will always be stuck in this ugliness. and the music will still suck.

why halloween and ghost month aren't the same thing

last night at my apartment complex, we had a halloween party for all the kids. it was fun- 12 kids aged 1 to 5. we had stories, candy, went on a candy treasure hunt. all good!
a parent asked me before the party if halloween was like ghost month. i told her that it was originally, but since christianity took over europe, that part of it (ancestor worship) was abandoned. now it's just a holiday for kids.
halloween isn't like ghost month. for one thing, we don't really beleive that ghosts, gobblins, and most surely not that vampires and werewolves come out on that day. even though halloween shows death and other gruesome scary things, it's all making fun of it! that's right. we made death into a temporary joke. rather than fear it, we make a joke and a holiday of it to say" yeah we're gonna die, but til then we're gonna have fun"
contrast this to ghost month- death is serious business. ghosts are real. and they'll cause serious havoc if you don't do according to the tradition.
can't swim, can't do this and that, cause ghosts rule! they will kill you.
yet, i have lived 44 years without following the traditions of ghost month, and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO ME. that's right, not a ghostly thing!
now why is that? i also don't follow feng shui beyond basic air flow for my room.and i don't read the chinese farmer's almanac. i'm doing just fine.
and i have tons of dead relatives that i don't pray to/for and never will. life goes on for me. i have a rich, wonderful life in taiwan.
what gives? if all these taiwan traditions are true, how come they don't affect me? and how come they don't affect the millions of people living in the West?
maybe because i have an armor that protects me that's stronger than those silly idols sitting in your temples.
and maybe just maybe, your religion is a lie- a lie created to keep the chinese people in spiritual bondage. think about it.

tai ji mun- cult of the KMT?

tai ji men is not just a martial arts group. they are, in my opinion, a front for a chinese nationalist cult, promoting all things chinese (which would be sort of ok if they were upfront about it) even using deception and myths.
take for instance the origins of tai ji chuan as they claim it. according to most tai ji-ist, it was invented by a taoist monk named zhang shan fung. they claim tai ji is of taoist origin and proves the teaching of tao.
actually tai ji was invented by a chinese general named chen about 300 years ago. and the original name was NOT tai ji chuan but Hao Chuan. it was not a taoist creation, but one of a chinese general who was very knowledgeable in the human body and the art of combat.in china there is a village called chen where the original art is still taught.
so the taoist connections are a lie. they are historically untrue.
personally, i can't stand a lot of tai ji-ists. a lot of them are all up in their own mystical-ness and percieved chinese superiority. i would love to see their anachronistic asses walk into a cage match and get taught a thing or two about humanity and equality.
tai ji mun is all up in themselves with their chi kung, dance, etc. they are the perfect vehicle for cult nationalism.

taiwan's government approved foreign artists, part 2

the following are the approved foriegn artists which recieve the full blessing of the taiwan government:

Air Supply
Avril Lavne
Richard Clayderman
matthew lien

these artists have been "darling-ed" by the taiwan government as either safe, not harmful, or even useful to their purposes. the only choice i can agree with in that are air supply, but that's just my taste.
look at a richard clayderman video he made back in the 90s. it was the sappiest, most "don't worry foriegners won't hurt you/try to fuck you" video i've ever seen. plus he plays the sappiest music on the planet.his pieces are at most etudes for children, and at worst the sound track for some artsy-fartsy french semi-porn flick.
as for matthew lien, i suspect he's just a cultural plant brought here to promote tourism as well as boost the ego of taiwan by singing about the trees, birds, and local scenery.
avril what's her name can't spell it don't care too, was courted by the government for awhile, hoping her fucked up mascara would encourge further mental lostness among taiwan's youth.
air supply is the one choice i don't get, because they actually create good music and are expert song writers. but the fact that they are only popular in asia AND the taiwan government loves them means they're circling the musical drain, i hate to say.

taiwan's government approved foreign artists

basically, if you're an overseas (aka real foriegner) you can perform at any venue your mananger books for you, provided that the booking takes place overseas. in fact, the cultural bureaus are happy to have you. but if you're a taiwan foriegner, they will do everything in their power to make sure that you stay off most cultural venues, unless of course you are part of a group sponsored by other taiwanese.
why this paradox? because taiwan is still living in the chaing kai shek days. they want to keep an eye on what foriegners are or might be saying.
i have been paying taxes to the ROC for 13 years. but i still cannot apply for use of any public facility, and neither can any other foriegner, without a local taiwan organization supporting them.
but getting that support is very hard, because of the way they think. take for instance my band. there are 3 people: guitar, bass and drums. my drummer is an excellent taiwanese guy who plays stellar jazz. my bassist is a young guy, but he is learning how to use interesting notes to fill things in.
the way we play, we don't need a 4th person. but all these organizations think " if there aren't at least 4 people, then it won't be exciting enough". this is one of those areas where taiwan people like to talk beyond their knowledge of things, and thereby make things harder for people trying to do something new. and also, when they see my fucking white face, treat us as if we were going to sing some debaucherous western song, though i tell them we are a jazz trio.
of course, if it were 3 taiwanese highschool punks trashing a song, they'd let them,no matter how bad they sing, and no matter who bad the lyrics, because we have to give our young people a venue to perform.
the thing is, i paid the freight on that venue too. all tax payers should have equal access to the facilities in our city. simple as that.
of course, if you don't speak any chinese and act rudely, they'll just give you whatever you want. but if you're polite. speak good chinese, they treat you like shit.

Why I Do What I Do

in a nutshell, i'm tired of the hard sell of chinese culture being made by various nationalistic cultural entities on both sides of the taiwan strait and by the chinese disporia, trying to tell us how superior they are, when 90% of their present life is from western culture.
yes chinese culture is wonderful. it is an important part of my life. but i cannot make a wholesale embrace of it.i enjoy most aspects of traditional culture and some of the modern. but i cannot say the modern music produced in asia is worth much, and i cannot fawn over movies like "crouching tiger" and "yip man". and i cannot say the way chinese people tend to think is a blueprint for societal improvement. i think writers such as Bo Yang support my view.
i also cannot be silent about the use of cultural propaganda by the chinese speaking entities in our world today, some of which are outright lies that fly in the face of generally accepted biological theory , ie, we all came from africa, the chinese DID NOT develop on their own as some of them would like to beleive! nor did their culture. this (the cultural aspect )is verifiably proveable.
chinese, korean, japanese, german, any form of nationalism is dangerous, because it seeks to use myths to grandize their view of racial superiority.
the taiwan and chinese governments are both using control of the arts for their own purposes. and i take offense to that, because we artists should never be under anybody's thumb.
chinese people, and all of us, depend on western culture for our lifestyle. we CAN'T go back. we should take what is useful from chinese culture and leave the rest behind, and stop living in nationalistic myths and neo facist wet dreams about a revival of "the glories of the past".
that past wasn't all that, people. think about it.

exposing chinese ancestor worship

http://exposingchineseancestorworship.blogspot.com/2009/03/traditional-lion-dance.html

most parts of chinese culture are wonderful. some parts have a dark history and meaning.
this site gives a LOT of info about the things in chinese culture that are evil. it encourges chinese people to avoid those bad things but still keep their chinese identity.
this is what i have been saying as well. we must take the good and leave the bad, but first we need to recognize what the bad is and why it's bad.
this site shows things i didn't know before and maybe you didn't either. read it and see for yourself.

The Ugly Chinaman by Bo Yang

The Ugly Chinaman /Crisis of Chinese Culture by Bo Yang

this book interests me greatly. it is about why the Chinese cannot change and improve despite being exposed to other cultures.
i find Bo Yang to be a facinating person. he takes a good hard look at chinese culture, and doesn't pull any punches. i like that. i've never pulled any punches with american culture or taiwan culture. Bo yang is in fact a well known taiwan author who spent 9 years in prison under chiang kai shek's regime.
anybody who thinks any criticism of chinese culture is racism has been sucking on the political correctness titty for too long. bo yang is worth reading, if you dare.

are taiwanese emotional wussies? (can't please taiwanese part 2)

i recently got called aside by my bushiban boss for a sit down. it seems the students are very happy to stay with me. no complaints. but the boss feels that i should not correct students' english when they say something wrong, the reason being that taiwanese might feel called out and loss of face for being told they were wrong in front of others.
boss's suggestion was that i remember all the mistakes, then write them later on the board, not calling attention to who made the mistake.
i am really tired of taiwanese people's "emotional pussy-ism". it makes everything dealing with them that much harder.
first of all, we are in a class to learn. i have yet to have a student complain that i corrected them; in fact on the questionare, they said they were happy that "teacher always takes time to correct us". but the idea still exists among the establishment that correcting mistakes is bad.
in english teaching, you sometimes run into "entitlement students", ie those who some lazy foriegn teacher has let dominate the class forever and who think their english is so superb. if you call THAT person out, your job is at risk.
to be honest, i sometimes wish i didn't have to depend on this market for my income. pleasing them is a major pain. and i'm not one to walk on eggshells or avoid any toes.
another thing i hate is the "english only" rule, which is really stupid. i keep my class at a 90/10 ratio- 90% english immersion with some chinese explanation. the reason for this is that explaining it in english doesn't always work. i've heard many students from "english only" classes come to me with totally WRONG renderings of phrases. i really want my students to learn.
i care, but i'm not really paid to care, am i? just give them what they want, the way they want it, even if it's detrimental to them in the long run.
funny thing is, we are foreign teachers. the whole point is to be immersed in a foriegn teacher's class/culture. but what many taiwanese want is western culture the taiwanese way, ie a taiwanese version of western education. and that's the real oxymoron of this whole thing.
and anyway,why should we as foriegn teachers be required to do things the taiwanese way if the whole point is to immerse our students in a foriegn teacher environment? isn't that ill preparing them for if/when the do go overseas? isn't all this emotional pussy coddling doing them a disservice?
one cannot separate language from culture. if my role is as a foriegn teacher, then i refuse to teach the taiwanese way.
simple as that.

you really can't please taiwanese

okay, damn it, for the disclaimer: not all taiwanese, but enough to talk about.

you really can't please (a lot of) taiwanese.and the reason for this is they have a very narrow scope for what they want. if this were specific and thought out, that would be a good thing. but many times, they don't know what they want and will keep changing their demands.and also they carry a lot of baggage.
i remember one case i did. the boss's wife had written the lyrics to an english learning song. the lines to the song were not in symmetry. for example:

"johnny is boy
sally is a girl
johnny likes to play baseball and soccer in the evening
sally likes to play with dolls and make pretend tea with her friends"

These lines are fucking UNUSABLE without major revision. the reason is that melody also has METER and meter is better done when the lyrics actually have meter as well.
i told the boss lady politely that the lyrics would have to be revised a bit because they lacked meter.i said i would do it, then start on the melody. i saw the look on her face, which immediately told me that SHE had written these stupid lyrics.
it ended up that they really wanted the lyrics the way they were because they had already printed the goddamn books that way! as a result, they were looking for someone to write and record the songs within that narrow scope. in other words, write a bad song to bad lyrics.
and herein lies the difficulty in "pleasing taiwanese"- they don't really want good, they just want what they want.
that for me is very difficult, because i was raised to always do my best. whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your heart. give them your best.
but your best is not required in taiwan. just give us what we want, no matter how messed up it is. and above all, don't REALLY try to help us. we can help ourselves.
but let's say you do give them what they want. from my experience, once`they've gotten that, they will feel they can get anything. they will ask you to change it again and again.
so i teach english. but even there, you find a big problem caused by the way taiwanese think.
you'd be shocked to know that one really doesn't have to be a good english teacher to be a "good english teacher" here. as long as students "feel" they are learning, then perception is everything. what students want is a chance to practice their english, but there also needs to be some structure to a class, objectives in the practice and so on,otherwise they'll never improve.
i also find that taiwanese people have no patience to learn things the right way. that's one reason i basically stopped teaching music- they want to skip many steps and the end result, if you give them that, will be that they are still dissatisfied, and most importantly I will be dissatisfied, because i have standards that i don't drop for anybody.
you walk in my studio, you are going to learn the right way (read music). it's just as simple as that. you will learn all your chords correctly. you will do worksheets. and sorry, i don't teach pop songs like in those popular "6 line" books. i teach ETUDES, which are time tested! i teach for real, not fucking around.
but real is a relative term, and the reason is because for taiwanese,what i feel is real.

that's it in a nutshell. my advice to foriegners in taiwan:
don't try too hard. don't take yourself too seriously. if you want to play the "use them at their own game" game, your decision. i don't blame anyone for playing along.
me,i just get by as best as i can, and try not to lower my standards.
poorer? yeah! struggling. but i only know how to do my best, not second best.

buddhism is an alien philosophy

though i have great respect for tzu chi and all the good work they do, as well as for their founder, in addition having adopted some of the zen philosophy to my life, i have to say all in all, buddhism is alien, not only to chinese culture, but also to humanity and other life forms on this planet. just ponder the following:

1. vegetarianism- please! domestication of animals for food is one of the great accomplishments and steps forward of the human race, the Chinese being among the first cultures to do so.
and look in your own mouth! if we're not supposed to eat animals, why do we have incisors? only meat eating animals have those. check out a girrafe next time you're at the zoo. they have none, because they're herbivores. we're NOT!
and anyway, how many animals on this planet kill other animals for food? ever hear of a food chain?

2. releasing animals to be "free"- first of all, releasing fish into streams and lakes messes up the whole balance of the system, killing off previous species there. is that what they want?

3. celebacy- giving me a fucking break (pun intended)! how many converts would they have if everybody shaved their heads and suddenly stopped humping? ZERO! but not only that, it's a really bad policy considering human history. early in the 10th century, the plague swept from central asia into europe to the west and china to the east. it is estimated that half of the world's population died! luckily, people ignored buddhism (and roman catholics) and went right back to fucking,and now the world has a robust population;so in case that meteor hits like in the movies, we're covered.
and anyway, marriage and having babies is Chinese culture! what parent doesn't hope their child meets someone and starts a nice family?

4. leaving home to become a monk/nun- this is as un-Chinese as it gets! christianity also condemns people who don't care for their parents.

5. nirvana- no, not the band- the concept. if the ultimate goal is to cease to exist, then i'm running the opposite way. sorry, i really like existing. it's sort of fun.and if nirvana is some sort of "bliss", then perhaps ecstacy (see? even the label tells you what it's for) or even some weed might be an easier option for seeking it.

all in all, i think Zen has some useful stuff. but like a lot of things in this world, i think it's only 20% useful and the rest filler. i take what i find useful from it, but that's as far as it goes.
i'd much rather be surfing at kenting! that would be nirvana to me!

why cultures are not equal

multiculturalism teaches that all cultures are equal, and that western culture has had an unfair advantage and that is the only reason why it has prospered. i wish to show you how that just ain't so:
for instance,the Roma (gypsy) culture has long taught their children how to steal. children were taught to pickpocket from onlookers as the flamenco dances were being performed. gypsies are also well known for dying young from alcohol and diseases via sexually permissive behavior,all of which were part of their culture.
the maya practiced human sacrifice. they cruelly took infants, women, men. how is this equal to western culture's emphasis on human rights? yes some western societies like germany in WWII adopted evil as their MO, but they were stopped, because western cultures abhor it.
what i am saying about taiwan is that it's culture is lacking. most of the things like charity were brought by western missionaries. if this is not so, why has DAOISM yet to build even ONE HOSPITAL?
and what do daoist say when disasters happen? the gods were angry. or the day was unlucky. the west has (except for a few zealots) long separated events from some moral connection. bad things do happen to good people.and vice versa. life isn't fair. but those of faith believe that they are not alone in their trials and suffering, and that things happen because that's the way the world is.
does taiwan culture teach people to be dishonest as the gypsy culture i just mentioned? not to that degree. but i have found dishonesty to be more common here than my experience elsewhere. i beleive it is a cultural phenonmenon.
culture has zero to do with race, and everything to do with choice. we choose what kind of person we are to become. if we choose to embrace mysticism and superstition, no progress can follow. if we choose to embrace Reason, then a whole universe opens up to us.

woman runs crossing, blames train

yesterday, a woman in taiwan ran thru a railroad crossing while the guard arms were coming down. when she reached the other side, the arms were already down. then she tried to turn back, and was missed , according to the newspaper this morning, by only "two steps".
what she did was stupid (a big problem in taiwan is the urge to gamble with one's life, thinking "it won't happen to me, and if it does, oh well...fate). but what was worse was the newspaper bringing up the idea that the train "might have been going too fast"!
trains have a schedual to keep! whatever time they lose they have to make up somewhere else, otherwise every train behind them will be late, or worse there will be a rear-end collision! should 10,000 people be held up or worse, endangered, for one stupid bitch?
this is another example of the kind of SELFISH, STUPID, BACKWARDS THINKING that permeates taiwan.
mr. train engineer, next time do us all a favor: run over the bitch! consider it a form of passive eugenics- you're stupid, you get run over and don't get to reproduce.
anybody who thinks a train with 300 passengers should wait for her deserves no better.

why fortune telling is bogus

i see fortune tellers, feng shui arrangers, and date setters all around taiwan. what is the obession with knowing the future, that makes people so lacking in faith that they fear tomorrow to the point that they just have to know?
and anyway, if these street fortune tellers know so much, why are they telling fortunes on the street? why aren't THEY rich?
i get worried sometimes too, anxious about the next day. but i have never beleived in fortune tellers, because i beleive your tomorrow is made by what you do today!
that's right. YOU create your tomorrow by the choices you made today. for example, i know that there will be food in my fridge tomorrow. why? because i went shopping today. there will be cheese, eggs, veggies, meat. so i created what tomorrow will be in that regard (food in my fridge) by going shopping today.
yes, it's possible that the power could cut out and ruin my food, but honestly, 7-11 is just down the street and they sell ice. also, the power probably wouln't be out that long anyway. this ain't a 3rd world country.
i also know that i will have money because i put all my 1 and 5 NTs in my little piggy bank on my desk. i can also survive for weeks at a time because i know survival skills.
finally, i have faith. i beleive God will work out everything for good, even if it's not exactly the way i want it sometimes.
thrift, efficiency, and faith. i don't need a fortune teller.
want to have a bright future? make good choices today and you most likely will. save your money. eat right. exercise. watch both ways before you cross the street. your tomorrow is in YOUR hands. and it's created by what you do today.

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." matthew 6:31-34

the "rule" of four (4)

last night on the news was a report about how some people in taiwan wanted their health card numbers changed because the number 4 was part of the code (4 being in chinese culture a homonym for the word "death").
this is another example of how stupid superstition should never be allowed to waste tax payer money and government employee time!especially on something that has no bearing on our lives.
to prove my point.....
just recently, i took a flight on which my seat number was 44. i am also 44 years old. i laughed to myself " oh shit i guess this is the day i die"!
turned out that because i was sitting in 44, i met a really nice dude sitting next to me, and we had the best conversation. in fact, we chatted almost the whole flight!
so 4444 (my age plus my seat number) wasn't unlucky at all! i made a new friend, i didn't die of a heart attack, and we didn't crash either!
anyway, what power do numbers have? or the pronunciation of them have? what if i say 4444 in english instead of chinese? wouldn't it be lucky, since " four four four four" would sound like "fouh fouh fouh fouh" which sounds like "buddha buddha buddha buddha"?
at what point does all this break down into the useless bullshit that it really is?
personally i have no qualms about living on the 4th floor, driving a 4 door car, having 4 fish in my aquarium, or any other useless nonsense.
numbers were all created by God. and everything He makes is good.

* PS: i have no problems with 666 either, because it is the number of a specific person in the Bible. it has no bearing on my daily life.

two excellent books

i highly suggest these two books as they are important texts on the closing of both the eastern and western minds:

1."Can Asians Think?"

2."The Closing of the American Mind"

i ask my readers to please investigate these books before you hurl racist and hateful insults at me and my family. at least consider what these authors are saying. i am against groupthink, both in eastern and western culture. groupthink caused both the nazi and japanese atrocities. i sense the same danger in the new chinese nationalism and american blind patriotism.
please read at least "can asians think". it will enlighten you.

taiwan student nazi group

yes, believe it or not, some taiwanese students worship hitler! and they're calling for "racial purity", expulsion of foriegners, etc.
this group is the logical result of "tai ke-ism"/ green nationalism/ hok-lo chauvenism.and that's why i speak out so strongly against taike. i have heard jewish people say about nazi germany: " they started by calling us big nose, then it gradually got worse from there til they threw us in the gas chambers".
taike's insistence on using the term "high nose" for foriegners, as well as their general propensity for violence against them, isn't that far from what the nazis youth thugs started out doing.
the thing is, besides being racist (these are students so i overlook their misguided zealousness) MOST taiwanese are NOT pure min nan! about 80% of taiwanese, if my numbers are correct, have at least ONE FORMOSAN ABORIGINAL ANCESTOR!
i pray these students eyes will be opened to the propaganda that is blinding them.

clarifications (for those who can read)

1. my wife is taiwanese, my 2 children are mixed. anybody who thinks i'm a racist can go screw themselves.

2. i speak mandarin fluently, japanese less so. my total time immersed in both cultures equals 30 years. i have loved chinese and japanese culture since i was 7. however, i DO NOT love the weak points and recent tendencies in them,particulary nationalism via control of music and entertainment.

3. i have spent considerable time and energy in the US helping chinese people. i was in fact, made fun of for always being around asians. i have gone to bat for chinese students more times than i can count.

4.though i hate japan for what they did to china, i love the new japan, minus some of it's irrational behavior. my dissapoinment with taiwan is that both japan and taiwan were given the same amount of time after WWII, yet taiwan continues to be stuck in backwards thinking, messiness, and disregard for others.

5. when i complain about taiwan, it's because any fool can see that japan is where they are because they WORK HARDER. simple as that. tired of taiwan's excuses.

6. as a serious schooled musician, i find traditional chinese music theory and japanese music to be of value, and i have spent serious study time in both. however, i find nothing worth spending any study time on in " tai yu ge" or mando-pop. that is not to say that taiyu song is of no value. it has cultural value. but as a form of music, it is lacking in material that would warrant my spending study time on it.

7. despite going abroad for study and having government funding for music, 90% of the music in taiwan still sucks, and that is because both the investors and producers of music at the record companies have no idea about how to create a good album.

8. my beef has been, and always will be, with the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, and with uncouth, violent people in taiwan ( for brevity i call them tai ke, though not all tai ke are like that) not with the taiwanese people as a whole.

9. the net is free. if you are really worried about racism on the net, go attack the taiwan nazi youth site that is calling for taiwan racial purity, etc.

10. 90% of what i say comes from the mouths of OTHER TAIWANESE speaking about what they don't like about their own people. also my article on chinese culture and satanism comes directly from chinese pastors who seeing my love for chinese culture warned me that some parts of the culture were not to be touched because they were anti christian and in fact satanic in origin.

11. i am as critical of american culture as i am of taiwan culture. i just don't have a site for that.... yet.

12. if ANYONE ever approaches me or my family in an aggressive manner because of this site, i will defend myself and them BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY including deadly force. this means you! NK, forumosa.com, or whoever you are.

chinese culture is satanic

"....yeah, satan... he started his own religion"
attributed to singer don henley (origin unknown)

yes, some things can be accounted as cultural differences, but the fact that SO MANY things in chinese culture are the EXACT OPPOSITE of christianity is pretty startling. i am pretty convinced that chinese culture is the devil's own thing:

christianity- dragon is a symbol of satan
chinese culture- dragon is good

christianity- 666 is the number of the devil
chinese culture- 666 is a lucky number

*the 5 elements in chinese cosmology are in the shape of a pentagram. they are also the same 5 elements in western witchcraft.

*feng shui teaches the arrangement of objects to invoke good energy. in witchcraft, objects must be arranged in a set pattern to invoke a spirit

christianity- God has a will, we must accept the final answer
chinese culture- we can do things to change the future (fortune telling, spirit mediums, feng shui, "yang shiao gwei" and other forms of witchcraft)

christianity- the love of money is the root of evil.do not love money.
chinese culture- love money. pray to gods with the primary purpose of getting money

christianity- there is only one God. we are to serve Him
chinese culture- i am a god. the temple deities serve me and my whims.

christianity- honor your father and mother but do not worship them
chinese culture- worship your father and mother as gods when they die

christianity- my body was given to me by God. it is His temple
chinese culture- my body comes from my parents.i should use it for them, even prostitute myself by marrying for a greencard.

christianity- think for yourself, make your own decision
chinese culture- follow others blindly

christianity- love your neighbor as yourself
chinese culture- love the self.

christianity- be honest in all your dealings
chinese culture- it's ok to cheat in business. all is fair

christianity- forgive your enemies,pray for those that despitefully use you
chinese culture- retribution. face is everything

christianity- consider your own sins, think about what you do to others
chinese culture- i can wrong you, but don't dare wrong me and my face

christianity- ritual is not important. the heart is
chinese culture- the heart is not important , just do the ritual

christianity- it is more blessed to give than to recieve
chinese culture- take all you can

christianity- people are handicapped thru no fault of their own
chinese culture- it's their karma.they did something in thier past life

christianity- God created the earth in 7 days and said each one was good
chinese culture- some days are evil. some days are lucky.

christianity- walk by faith. trust God for what we don't know
chinese culture- try to find out the future. eveything depends on me and luck

christianity- God loves us
chinese culture- the gods are angry. they need constant feeding or bad things will happen

what people don't get about ah mei/ah miit

on the surface,the ah mei/ah miit phenomenon looks like just another record company ploy thanks to their lack of talent via nepotism.
but if that were the case, why ah mei? she IS talented. she has a great voice and stage presence. why would SHE need a gimmick such as this?
there may be another reason, though i imagine few people want to walk that far into the dark side.
that is, ah mei may be being handled by certain government bureaus. ah mei's alter personality screams PROGRAMMED MULTIPLE!
even if this is not case, she has a serious problem. the idea that one has more than one person living inside her, and that this personality can be expressed by changing one's hair color, etc has many implications, especially for young people struggling to find their own identity. it's just plain SCARY!
another issue is the record companies' "need" to turn people out- turn them into stage whores who all do the same song and dance with the same bling bling stage setup.
WHY? what is the purpose, if not to CONTROL THE CONTENT OF MUSIC??
ah me/ah mitt is just the tip of the dark side. something is going on.
i hope she can break free.

the reason for taiwan brain drain

today i had a conversation with my friend, a taiwanese who had been living in the US for about 5 years.
upon his return to taiwan he found a job with a company.
the boss of this company had been having a problem with a service supplier from the US for 3 months and asked him to fix this problem.
my friend called the US office, and voila- the problem was solved! it seems the manager on the taiwan end had been writing emails and nobody understood exactly what he was talking about. my friend, having graduated in the US, spoke excellent english and fixed the problem smoothly.
and what did he get for his good work? put on the boss's shit list! because in taiwan, watch how you shine- you might overshadow somebody else, namely the boss!
this part of taiwan culture is the reason why so many taiwanese only realize their potential overseas, because taiwan culture WONT LET THEM BE GREAT!
my friend also solved a big problem with the assembly line of the company. his fix for the problem was so swift, so simple, it's a wonder how nobody ever thought of it.
after that, my friend found himself out of the loop on so many things, it became impossible to do his job. he eventually had to quit.
anybody who thinks all cultures are equal needs to take a hard look at this example, because it repeats itself time and again in taiwan and elswhere in asia.
there's a REASON why the West is STILL ahead- because they don't waste time on crap like who was in the sandbox first. you're either the best or you're not. you are paid to SOLVE PROBLEMS, not be status quo. if you don't shine, somebody else will.
and that's the way it should be.

the golden melody awards: taiwan's "big club"

the taiwan golden melody award reeks of the cronyism and insider privledges that the whole "music" industry here as whole does. it's basically a club where " i win this year, you win next year".
what is equally ridiculous are the "categories" of music: taiwanese songs, mandarin songs, hakkanese songs.
i've got news for you- those are LANGUAGES NOT MUSICAL STYLES! but since taiwan has YET to establish a true musical style of it's own, the only distinctions they can make are linguistics.
the fact is, taiwan threw away its musical heritage a long time ago, back in the 90s, in favor of more western sounding music, in an attempt to show they were on an equal footing with the west.
now taiwan music sounds no different than any other western music, except the language used. there is no definitive style to taiwan music (save tai yu song, which is a hair's difference from japanese enka).
this year they are sure to have a foriegn artist as a guest. thing is, if that foriegn artist lived in taiwan, they'd be doing EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO KEEP HIM FROM EVER MAKING A RECORD! because taiwan artists aren't ready to have competition on their own soil.
simple as that.
will i watch the GMAs this year? maybe. or maybe not. i doubt very seriously if it will be anything but the same shit, different year.
i'm sure jay chou and tchai yi ling will win most of the awards, with a few concessions to the little guys to keep people hoping. and i'll bet little fat (ass) gets "best new artist" of the year.
no, i probably have better things to do that night. like writing some songs that'll never be heard anyway because i'm too white to be marketable here, or maybe just a little too taiwanese for the record industry's comfort.

will the real wing chun please stand up?

since the movie Yip Man and it's sequel, it's been very easy to find a wing chun practice group/school. thing is, where were they before this?
having lived here for 13 years,the only teachers that i knew of were Lu Wen Jing and maybe one or two others. my own teacher is the only disciple of one particular line of wing chun in taiwan, that i know of at least. this handful are the only teachers that i'm not questioning.
i think there are a LOT of the so called wing chun teachers here that are actually from other styles, and happened to learn enough WC to fool beginners. otherwise, why were they not teaching before this? secrecy? if so, why let the cat out now?
these guys are simply capitalizing on the recent craze.
and i for one hope the craze will all be over soon.

taiwan! stop killing precious animals for your little dick!

i'm not a vegetarian. and i think every animal on this planet has a secondary function of being food for another. that is just the way life here works.
but NO ANIMAL should be killed for a stupid reason!
i called out the fire department once to take a snake away- a highly venomous, but utterly beautiful Taiwan Umbrella Krait. i watched them catch the snake,naively thinking they would relocate it. imagine my shock when i heard them talking about putting it into wine (pao jiou) to make a sex tonic.
despite the fact that they broke the law (taiwan snakes are protected species) the reason for doing it is the epitomy of stupidity.
first of all, is having a big stick the only part of pleasing a woman? a good climax is 90% emotional and good foreplay. but that information is lost on these assholes, who are too lazy and too stupid to open a book and find out what a clitoris is.
"just shove it" is their motto! i feel really sorry for taiwan women.
secondly, these "remedies" have NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE behind them. NONE! we know that Viagra works for most people (actually not drinking and taking a walk now and then works even better) but bear bile, snake bile, etc??
the thing is these remedies, like a LOT of things in chinese culture, WASTE TIME!
why go to all the trouble of having to hunt down an animal, kill it, stick it in wine for 6 months, when a pill can be made by modern machinery, in a clean environment in a few minutes? and that pill can be gotten from your doctor with a simple prescription!
and now people are buying "seal liver oil" Goddamn it! there are better ways to get DHA- borage oil for one. cod liver is another. lots better than clubbing a mammal to death!
and what about shark fin? our ocean ecology would be totally screwed without sharks. sharks eat up some of the fish that compete with other fishes we eat. they balance the food chain. and why are these sharks dying? because taiwan people think shark fin has some lucky meaning. precious animals have to DIE for somebody's tradition??!!
i've had it with all this traditon this and that! let's start using our brains and our hearts to take care of this planet.
that's what WE were put here for.

first come first impression- how early arrival foriegners messed it up for all of us

one only has to look at some of the english textbooks written by foriegners in taiwan to know that somebody was pulling the wool over somebody's eyes. there was a time when any foriegner who got off the boat could make outlandish claims and get away with it. these guys managed to win the confidence of whatever bushiban they were working for and wrote generally crappy books that make my life, for one, very difficult.
in fact, one of the worst mistakes bushibans make is writing their own books. really excellent courses like "Side by Side" get thrown away and replaced by these shitty books written by somebody's favorite "lao wai".
a lot of these foriegners were/are escapees from whatever crap life they had in their own country. i call them "white trash drug addicts with language skills". they learn just enough chinese to get by and get noticed.
these foriegners also sealed into stone the idea that "all foriegners can play guitar, all foriegners are happy, etc". they plied their sappy, half-ass written songs in mandarin, convincing somebody that they ought to make a record, which of course DIDN'T sell, thereby ruining the chances of later foriegners from EVER making it in music here.
then they wrote their crappy books which flooded the market. you can't write a book now because these assholes already beat you to it. and these methods are part of the engrained learning method here. that is slowly changing thankfully.
was taiwan originally a haven for losers? it appears. luckily those days are coming to an end. you can't be just any hippie off the boat anymore. people are slowly coming around to seeing thru the "foriegn-ness" and into the fucked-up-ness. hopefully every foriegner with something to offer will be now given the chance to do so.

AIT and its never ending parade of foriegn "experts"

i don't have an economics degree, and just barely understand how stocks work. if i were to invest, it wouldn't go much deeper than a mutual fund (fuck sitting around watching a stock screen all day- i leave that to professionals).
but i wonder why all these foriegn authors come to taiwan and say the same shit all the time:" taiwan is so unique, taiwan is so great, taiwan is so creative". it all sounds so condescending.
yes taiwan has made a niche for itself in electronics and OEM. they do that super well (having done work in that field, i'm in AWE of the taiwan electronics industry) but i personally think these assholes (the experts) are just here to plug their books.
maybe what they are talking about is above my head, but to me, saying TAIWAN and CREATIVITY in the same sentence is sort of an oxymoron. people, and especially companies, don't go out of their way to be different.
look at scooters. has there been any REAL, EARTHSHAKING re-design recently? all the scooters look a hair on an ant's leg different from each other! absolutely the same.
look at music. taiwan steals parts of western songs (not sample, STEAL) and try to hide the fact that these riffs came from another source. i have SEEN producers do this. where's the creativity? creative dishonesty? creative at following a narrowly defined idea of how a product should be?
then these "experts" step out of their field and start to comment on how taiwan should "embrace china without fear". the only persons whose opinions matter in that area are people with a military /strategic/state dept background. those are the only people who really know what China is capable of, not some Harvard MBA/bullshit bookseller.
but AIT is the prime bullshit artist of them all. just listen to their " the US relationship with Taiwan is getting better" rhetoric.
the US HAS OWNED TAIWAN SINCE 1945! there is no fucking "relationship", other than that taiwan is the unclaimed US child of WWII. a child whom they won't admit to having otherwise they'd have to issue US passports and deal with a massive influx of taiwanese immigrants. simple as that!
hopefully, they never will admit to it. cause i'd hate to move back to the US and have to live next to tai ke! nice, educated taiwanese, welcome, of course^^.
personally, i think taiwan should tell these foriegn experts to fuck off unless they can say something other than the same old, condescending dribble. these seminars are a waste of time.

why i like lin chi ling (and why she disappoints me)

truly, in another time, she would be a queen. i like lin chi ling a lot, mostly for the way she conducts herself amidst a sea of shallow, immature television "personalities". she's smart -not just book smart- but really smart. and she's unique. i think you could cross the oceans ten times and not find another person like her, beauty aside. i'm sure if i met her at a party, she'd be the most interesting person to talk to.

i admire how almost everything that comes out of her mouth is worth hearing, at least as far as young girls are concerned. she shares her make-up and beauty/life tips, and conducts herself with class.
compare that with the mass amount of USELESS CUNTS on taiwan TV, talking about how they need a man to do this and that for them, their newest LV bag, etc, and ranting on and on about their bra size, brand of napkin, etc.
i really want to slap these bitches into reality. maybe there are lots of geek/wimps with money who would shell out everything for these women, but i would pass them up for a normal girl working at 7-11 in a second.
lin chi ling never dips down into useless bitch territory, and for that i thank her.
now for why she disappoints me:
i feel she's slowly being eroded by the people around her. and i've heard her say things that made me feel she's slipping a little. i'm not putting her down. the entertainment "industry" here is either "play ball or get left behind". but i hope she can keep up the high standards she has shown so far.
personally, i think she's lonely as hell. if there ever was a "poor little rich girl", she's it. she worked hard, reached the top of her game, only to be surrounded by airheads. everybody around her wants something.
Chi ling, keep up the good work. you're my hero, girl!

Yip Man for the simple minded/ geek-fu

i refuse to ever tell ANY taiwanese person that i have studied martial arts. the reason being is, they will brand me a "typical foriegner/likes kung fu". so that makes taiwanese learns to play tennis what then? a freak?
then i get the statement, "you like kung fu", same as they say about my doing music "you like music".
actually if you only do something because you like it, you're on a very childish level of living. there comes a point where you do something long enough, and "like" is not part of the equation. love it or hate it you DO IT, because it has become a part of your life.
that's why i hate the wave of yip man/wing chun geeks. not to make myself mr. know it all, but i KNEW WHO YIP MAN WAS 30 YEARS AGO! wing chun wasn't the source of a blockbuster movie back then. i had to research Blackbelt Magazine to find out about it. then i sent off for a book. then i searched out people here and there to show me something of it. i waited this long before i found a good teacher.
now this fucking movie comes along and it's sequel,and wing chun is the thing to do. and people think i'm one of these geeks who saw Yip man( the movie) and got all hot and excited and wanted to learn.
taiwan is full of geeks. guitar geeks, who learn from TAB, can play "better" than somebody who went to music school. and nobody knows the difference.
lets all learn!! thereby making somethng that WAS a serious study become nothing- an activity for the masses.
i'm not saying only musicians should learn to play guitar. i think everybody should learn an instrument. but these TAB books are teachig PRO LEVEL playing without PRO LEVEL KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, OR REGARD FOR TALENT. professional skills SHOULD NOT be learned by everyone. but there are even magic schools teaching what should be a secret to ANYBODY! and who will want to watch tricks now that they already know the secret?
but back to kung fu. i was asked yesterday "you like kung fu, that's why you're doing it". i could see from his face that he felt i was a typical foriegner.
so i let loose with this one" unfortunately wing chun doesn't work that well in real combat. a lot of chinese kung fu is actually worthless in a real situation." i could see his face change. first he thinks i'm silly for wanting to learn kung fu, then he's angry because i diss kung fu. i went on, "look at K1, UFC, MMA, nobody who has ever tried chinese kung fu has lasted more than 10 seconds", to which someone piped up, "well kung fu is for health".i answered "but they say it's for fighting. then when they lose they say it's for health".
maybe i was being an asshole. but i wasn't going to let somebody belittle my years of investigation and serious study as a passing fancy,following the latest fad, or worse, as the interests of a "typical stupid foriegner".
i'd rather say FUCK KUNG FU than let anybody peg me into a convenient little hole.

can't win either way.
so when people ask me, i just tell them that kung fu sucks. it's inferior to western boxing and wrestling.
which isn't exactly true ,but this way, i keep the sincere love i have for chinese martial arts a secret, and nobody can belittle my love.

chris: kick ass or kiss ass?

i've met TV personality Chris before(where the fuck did people's last names go)? nice enough guy, though our encounter was very brief.
some in taiwan have debated whether Chris is our Dave Spector, a famous foriegn TV personality in japan, known for his outspoken criticism of general stupidity there.
as far as i've seen, chris plays status quo, get along and get some airtime foriegner. i've never heard him say anything with balls. in fact, about the only foriegner who does that is me!
cause frankly, if it comes down to saying what people want to hear in order to get ahead, then people be damned. i'm going to give them an earful of the truth as i see it.
i have serious doubts about chris ever becoming a dave spector. he's married into the entertainment profession. he's a good little foreigner, doing what he would (maybe) never have a chance to do back home.
not totally dissing the guy. he's likeable. i like him more than curly hair, prime time ass kisser Jeff whatever.
tell you what Chris: stand up for us. tell those assholes your wife works with to stop calling us high nose/lao wai on TV. you couldn't call Asian people "slant eyes" on broadcast TV in the US. why should they have the right to SLANDER us here?
respect. everybody should be respected.
use your position for the good of other foriegners. do something.
i'm giving you a challenge, Chris.

"little fat" singer illustrates taiwan music industry's stupidity and hypocrisy

first, the music companies demanded that their singers be beautiful models (since that's where most of their income comes from, the songs are just a vehicle to make them famous). now it seems the worse they look the better.
not to put down anybody's looks. i'm not the dashing handsome man myself. but why now is ugly the fashion? and why these stupid singing contests every night?
because the taiwan record companies can think of nothing better to do. they are fucking out of ideas. they are groping in the dark for a new money making idea, and they can't find one. and the reason they are groping is because they've rejected the one idea that DOES work : long term investment and support of quality artists.but that takes time. too much time for the quickie investors (fucking neo taiwan yuppies) who claim to "love music that's why i'm investing in it". what they love is the idea of investing in music. but what they really want is a quick turnover.
these investors are the primary problem. but there's more......
these singing contests are merely a way for taiwan companies to showcase a singer (let's not call them artists shall we) that they were already considering ,ie some investor's daughter or son, or a friend of a friend of a friend. in other words the same old neputism that has plagued the industry from the beginning.
also, these contests are a way of homogenizing music in taiwan. since a large percentage of income comes from KTV royalties, they want nearly ALL of taiwan's music to be KTV singable. but most importantly, they want people to only love songs that they themselves could imagin singing in a KTV to impress their friends , ie appealing to taiwan's narcisstic impulses. also, the companies hope to keep out any different forms of music that might compete with this monopoly on the mental image people here have of what constitutes "music".
now for the hypocrisy: taiwan music companies are falling all over themselves because this porker got on US TV. but they have spent every dollar and effort they could to block foriegners living in taiwan from entering THIS market, myself at the top of that list.
and what is little fat" famous for besides being fat? for singing somewhat like whitney houston. here tawian record companies really show their stupidity in typical fashion: "look at me! i can copy someone else!"

taiwan has chosen "the easy way", instead of fostering creative persons who would make long term contributions to musical culture and respectable profits. they need to go back to making music, not a debauchery.

The Need for Reason in Taiwan/ foriegn influence

just so you'll know, Ran is NOT a Taiwan hater. there's lots to love about this place, but lots that needs to change too.
a lot of things here are "just that way", never questioned, but it doesn't mean they can't be looked at another way.
For instance, the presence of foriegners in taiwan. do we take jobs from taiwanese? in the english teaching field, probably. taiwan bushibans use foriegners as their selling point, though there are many taiwanese teachers who may not speak perfect english, but speak it well enough, and have gone thru the probelms of learnign english so the know how to help natives learn.
also taiwanese teachers are routinely paid HALF of what foreign teachers get, which i think is a shame and a travesty. two people doing the same job should get the same pay. simple as that.
but are we taking jobs in other fields? not at 7-11. not at Carrefour. in fact, all of those are examples of FORIEGN INVESTMENT creating jobs for local taiwanese.
and also MOST foriengers here are brought here by FORIEGN COMPANIES. you never see them because they're AT WORK! taiwanese people only see english teachers on the street because they generally have TIME to be out and about. this needs to be known by locals, but the media is only interested in making them beleive that all foriegners are job stealing, pot smoking english teachers (and most english teachers don't even smok pot either).
let's look at taiwan under foriegn influence: the taiwanese young people growing up are the HEALTHIEST, and PRETTIEST of ANY GENERATION on taiwanese before them. why?
because they eat a more varied diet thanks to westernization. look at pictures of taiwanese people about 50 years ago, or better yet compare the height and appearance of someone 50 years old raised in the countryside to the young people today. shocking difference, thanks to a western diet.
how about equal pay/rights for women? some bunch of tai ke gangsters at the Ma dzu temple didn't think that up! it's a WESTERN idea, that taiwan accepted. same for anti sex harrassment laws, maturnity leave, etc. all WESTERN IDEAS.
how about electric power, hospitals, clothing manufacturing, food processing, refrigerators, and a host of other things that are 99% of the taiwan people's daily life? these things were invented in the WEST while the taiwanese were busy burning incense in temples and trying to figure out which day is a lucky one.
taiwan people need to own up to the contibutions of the West. without the west, they would be stuck in the ching dynasty.
foriegner go home? why not "taiwan friend, join us? throw off your chains of darkness and join us in the light of reason and truth." we welcome you.

public anger over movie theaters: further proof that taiwanese just can't think

recently the movie theaters in taiwan have insisted that no food be brought in from outside.and the TW public is angry over what in western countries (at least in the US) is a given.
movie theaters make MOST of their money from concessions. ticket prices by and large pay for the right to show the movie (the lease on the film roll). so it's natural that movie theaters would want you to buy their concessions.
but something bigger is happnening in taiwan, that is, the clash when class meets culture, or in this case when class meets the lack of it.
taiwanese always want things their way, be it letting their child piss on the road because they didn't want to walk 20 more steps to the restroom,or blocking traffic by running a tent party on a public street. and it's all ok, because it's the "taiwanese way". but what's worse is when taiwanese think they've gotten western culture down pat.
being a musician , i have run into the taiwanese "we know so don't tell us how" complex. the taiwanese capacity for "standard knowledge" without specific application is mind boggling. most of the people running sound systems don't know what they're doing, and are operating by second hand "everybody does it this way" information.
and if you try to point this out to them, they will brand you a "prima donna" or know it all, when actually THEY are the ones being obtuse.
i have come to the conclusion that in music at least, there are two ways to do things, the right way and the taiwanese way, and the latter is almost ALWAYS wrong.
taiwanese are like the spoiled children of a western culture. they think they know what class is but it eludes them.
i hope the movie theaters dont back down. I for one don't want to smell "stinky tofu" next to me while i'm watching Madagascar 4 or whatever.
this is one time when "power to people" has to take a back seat, because unfortunately, "the people" need to be taught what class is.

how taiwan can ruin your health

1. air quality- i remember the first day i walked around in taipei: the whole city smelled like a gas station! there are just too many vehicles for such a crowded, damp place.

2. sweet drinks- not only the 500cc shops, but the sugary drinks at most restaurants. taiwan has a recently aquired love affair with sugar. sure it's not going to make THEM fat, but it will my half-irish, diabetes gene carrying ass.

3. cheap carboydrate bread- yes taiwan bread is yummy, but definitely NOT good for you. cheap white starch, loaded with sugar. in fact even whole wheat here is not whole. it's whole wheat ADDED to white flour.

4. too much rice- white, polished rice is loaded into "bien dang" s ( lunch boxes) because rice is cheap and filling, but the carbo ratio is totally wrong, especially for Westerners.
add to that too much salt and everything being fried in oil,and it gets yucky after awhile.

5. motherfucking stress- as a foriegner here you will have more than your share. from the occassional racist slur on the street, to bosses who want the impossible, to the threat of being beaten or run over by some idiot on the street, the pressure is always there and needs to be escaped from occassionally.
zombie students and psychotic girlfriends also add to the stress load.

6. uneven sidewalks, parked motorcycles, and sharp objects sticking out of walls- i jammed my neck back and had to see a chiroparctor because the goddam sidewalk suddenly dropped a foot!! i have also torn pants and cut myself on sharp objects sticking out of nowhere. same for parked motorcycles sandwiched together. a real NO NO when you're wearing shorts. burned my calf more than one time.

7. getting hit by a truck- a high possibility. and i guarantee you the guy who hits you will be a blue truck driving, betel nut chewing asshole (switch that to jerkwad taxi driver for taipei).

luckily taiwan has EXCELLENT health care and massage parlors offer full service.
what more can you ask for?

why i'll never go back to traditional kung fu

in a nutshell, it was what bruce lee called "organized dispair". or rather it would be that if they had any organization, either in teaching method or in a governing body for it.
i spent 2 years in traditional wing chun, and 4 years in another style. though i learned SOMETHING in each, i never in that time was given THE SOMETHING, the keys to really understand how to use it.
that time frame was ridiculous. i can see someone spending one year learning the components of an art. the mechanics do take a while. but if after one year one cannot not even use it AT ALL.....?
of course, some taiwanese people will probably say that perhaps my teacher didn't feel i was ready, or worse, that he felt i wasn't a good enough person.
if by not good enough, they mean "not chinese enough", well i'm sorry. since when did the chinese way become the right way? are there no good people other than those who think and follow the chinese way?
and if you don't think i'm good enough, why waste my time? oh, i forgot. the fee.
then i started watching youtube for traditional kung fu vs MMA. needless to say, for all their training, chi kung, whatever, the traditionalists faired BADLY ( less than 8 seconds of badly)!! so if THAT's the result, perhaps i wasn't missing out on much after all.
also traditional kung fu is a pot of hypocrites. they talk about honor, but they really mean honor as it does right by them. a number of the people practicing kung fu in taiwan (via the temples) are pretty much hoodlums.
i have pretty much come to the conclusion that kung fu is actually a function of the temple/chinese masonic/mafia complex, and more and more come under the conviction that perhaps it is not something a person of the Christian faith should be involved in.
also during the time i was studying TCKF, my body was WILTNG AWAY!!! i was practing internal this and that, but i had NO MUSCULARITY WHATSOEVER. and i was getting fat.
the past year i have been studying with a chinese/american in wing chun. he is very modern, beleives in cross training, and actually has a CURRICULUM. there is no involvement with Daoism, temples, mafia, etc. i have been doing pushups, situps, deepknee bends, along with running, boxing class, and actually hand to hand drills in my wing chun class.
as you can guess, i'm a LOT HAPPIER. and i'm looking better. our class is enjoyable. no mysticism, just a lot of LOVE in our group.
and that's enough for me.

matthew lien : cultural plant by TW government

notice how matthew lien has the full blessing of the taiwan government in everything he does? his shows are all sponsored by the ministry of cultural affairs.
why? because he is what the TW government considers to be a "safe" forigner. he is in fact, a tool of their agenda, to create a numbed down, tree hugging, do what i say society.
matthew lien's music is for a niche market, which is fine- environmental sounds and songs of conscience are a good thing to relax to. but why does matthew lien have priviledges? why is he the darling of the ministry of cultural affairs?
my guess is that he is a culural trade from the Canadian government office in Taiwan. he promotes eco- tourism to canada, while building up the self esteem of taiwanese by living here and singing about the trees, the flowers, and the rabbit shit up on the mountain.
any foriegner trying to release a record in taiwan will meet up will stonewalling and excuses. it is almost impossible for one to get cultural venues to perform in taiwan, save the occassional underground pub.
so how did matthew lien do it? think about it.