There's something awkward or guilty in the ease with which we can sometimes communicate with total strangers-people we don't know and have no intention of knowing. It goes beyond a common language, overlapping sets of cultural referents, residence in the same area, subjection to the same politics and weather, working conditions and immediate ( Read more... )

I picked up this movie because it happened to have English subtitles. I expecting a fun-ish Korean horror flick. To call it "a pleasant surprise" would be a huge understatement. This won't do justice to how wonderful this movie is, but think(Jaws + Jurassic Park)/2 + Dr. Strangelove-PBF
Listen, just watch it, OK?

Like all cities, Taipei has a section that is a shade too classy to be called "swank." This area of the city, just east of Mme. Chiang Kai-chek's Grand Formosa Hotel, is not devoid of ramshackle apartments or greasy self-serve restaurants (nowhere is), but even these are housed in low whitewashed buildings, totally unlike the dirty tile-covered ( Read more... )

Statistics on birth control among female college students across Taiwan, according to a recent study (as reported here) by Taipei City Hospital (I think):72% usually use birth control when they have sex ( Read more... )

On the advice of the admissions department of the school I'll be attending in the fall, I've been reading Wild Swans (鴻), a generally well-received book supposedly about three generations of women in China ( Read more... )

The National Palace Museum has a huge exhibit on loan from the British Museum, so yesterday Natasha and I went down there ( Read more... )

That's right, I'm in an internet cafe again. My computer is out of commission for a week while they figure out why my microphone won't work.

When I get back online, I'll actually post some fiction. In the mean time, how about some feedback on the very short short story I posted a while ago, huh? Especially from Robert, who owes me like an entire ( Read more... )

From The Economist article I used to time my reading in the last entry: And with consumer-price inflation creeping up to a two-year high of 3.3% at the end of March, real interest rates have been around zero or negative this year. This has encouraged the withdrawal of savings from banks.
I don't know about anyone else, but I have never in my life ( Read more... )

They say the average person read at a speed of 250 words per minute. As someone who's always been a slow reader, I don't know why I've never thought to do this before, but I just tested myself to see how I stack up against that. And my speed is...156 words per minute.
Let's think about that for a minute. A C is supposed to represent an average grade ( Read more... )

So I'm going to study in China. I've never been there before, and I'm a little nervous about it. I'm so used to Taiwan. Last night I was at a night market, and I heard two things that made me realize how much I like it here:"Damn it, this tofu isn't stinky at all ( Read more... )