Back at the library

Bah! Internet is down at my apartment. Which was a good thing while I was in the final week of the term, studying for a final and stressing about a final project I didn't much care for. But now being relegated to going to the public library again for internet access is getting old. Timely, though, since this shot from an upper floor of the library came up.


Daan Park, southeast corner entrance.

So my term ended and I went to Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan for a couple days to visit family, and I still don't have internet at home. I also didn't take a single lomo shot while I was down there curious. I'm almost done with the roll that's in the camera, though, But it's been through four airport scanners, so I'm not sure what kind of effect that will have on the film.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. And Through The Wire (Peter Gabriel)
2. Infidelity (Only You) (Skunk Anansie)
3. Me And You (Duke Ellington)
4. Sweet Black Angel (The Rolling Stones)
5. 16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six (Tom Waits)
6. You're In A Bad Way (Saint Etienne)
7. She Fell Into My Arms (Ed Harcourt)
8. State of Love and Trust (Pearl Jam)
9. Many Too Many (Genesis)
10. Baseball Field (Kristin Hersh)

Buildings of Shida University

April 6, 2006 - I don't know what building this is. They put a big bow on it to celebrate something like a 50th Anniversary.


From a 9th floor balcony. Our current classroom doesn't have an outdoor balcony. I'm switching out of our current class next term to go to a slower class, because I'm like, slow, but I did suggest to the rest of them to put in a request for a class with a balcony. The teacher said they had nothing to lose and just might get it. Taiwan's a weird place.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Tamuke (Katsuya Yokoyama) shakuhachi
2. Perfect Indian (Sinead O'Connor)
3. Time (live) (Tom Waits)
4. Ghost Story (Versus)
5. Lavender (Marillion)
6. Hole In My Life (The Police)
7. The Way Back (Whysall Lane)
8. Dinosaur (David Byrne)
9. Future Legend (David Bowie)
10. The Path of Least Persistence (Figure II) (Shannon Wright)

Descent (into madness - last week of term)

April 5, 2006 - Planes landing at Songshan Airport. It was cool to be riding by and suddenly have these planes landing overhead. It might be not-so-cool to live in the area. This was pretty late in the day, and I was ready to head home. I did a later excursion, looking for a better vantage view of the take-offs and landings.



iTunes soundtrack:
1. Come Dancing (The Kinks)
2. Hang On To Yourself (David Bowie)
3. John Hardy's Wife (Duke Ellington) (not, mind you, John's Hardy Wife)
4. Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee ("Grease")
5. Always, Always You ("Carnival")
6. Ramble On Rose (The Grateful Dead)
7. Hikui Isu (Low Chair) (Saboten)
8. The Great Escape/The Last of You/Fallin' From the Moon (Marillion)
9. Sickbed (Rainer Maria)
10. Radio W-OO-Ten (Victor Wooten)

Bikeway riding

April 5, 2006 - Riding along the riverside bikeways. Haven't done a shot like this since New Jersey. Thought it was time to give the treatment to the Starship Enterprise. I can't wait to get back to my road bike and put a basket in front.


Key Lime River. It separates northern parts of Taipei from what I consider "Taipei proper". The divide is exacerbated for cyclists since there is no easy way to cross the river. I found one bridge that can be crossed in regular traffic, and this bridge might also be possible in regular traffic, unless it's a freeway, which it might be. I'm sure being a freeway hasn't stopped some old dude from getting on it on a bike. When you have to get somewhere in Taiwan...

I think that tower on the left is a waste incinerator in Beitou that they made into an attraction by putting a restaurant on top. No idea how that works, but this is Taiwan. It's actually the "Keelung" River, but I can't stop calling it the Key Lime River.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Get Back (The Beatles - the McCartney version)
2. Human Behavior (Bjork)
3. I've Been Mistreated (The Aislers Set)
4. Melting Pot (King Chango)
5. Guitar Man's Rag (Southern All-Stars)
6. Lady Nina (Marillion)
7. Fly Me to the Moon ("Neon Genesis Evangelion" - Ayanami's Birthday)
8. Never Get Old (David Bowie)
9. Lukin (Pearl Jam)
10. Iron Man (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)

Hangin' Out in the Park

April 4, 2006 - Hanging out in Daan Park during a three day break we had at the beginning of April, with the Starship Enterprise docked next to a palm tree. Ah, I remember that day. I sat down and within minutes a spider was scrambling behind my glasses, ie, between my glasses and my eyeball. I hope the look of my huge eyeball staring at it scared as much fuck out of the spider as it did me. Fortunately, I've been training my fear of spiders and I screamed like a girl for only a few minutes and only did minor damage to my glasses trying to get the damn thing off.


Practicing shakuhachi in the park. I think I'm the only dork who does something like this. Seriously, I think people see me wheezing notes out of this thing in public and wonder what kind of dork I am.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Baby, Dream Your Dream ("Sweet Charity")
2. One Beat (Sleater-Kinney)
3. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (Lauryn Hill)
4. A Pillow of Winds (Pink Floyd)
5. Sabahiya (Sabahiya - "Passion" Sources)
6. Grey (Ani DiFranco)
7. Where the Sour Turns to Sweet (Genesis)
8. Wild Wild Life (Talking Heads)
9. Devil's Roof (Throwing Muses)
10. Go Ahead (Rilo Kiley)

More from the public library

April 4, 2006 - Shot from a window on an upper floor. Maybe you can see the 7-11 on the right side of the street below. I don't think you can travel 10 minutes in Taipei without hitting a 7-11 or some other convenience store. Maybe that's why they call them "convenience stores".

iTunes soundtrack:
1. I'm Free (The Who)
2. I've Just Begun (Having My Fun) (Britney Spears)
3. I Want to Tell You (The Beatles)
4. Lady Elect (Unwound)
5. Chamber Symphony in C Minor, I. Largo (Shostakovich)
6. Red (live) (Mission of Burma)
7. Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukou) (Kyu Sakamoto)
8. Might (Archers of Loaf)
9. Shake Your Hips (The Rolling Stones)
10. Goodbye Stranger (Supertramp)

Elephant Hill

April 1, 2006 - The second shot of Taipei 101 below was taken during a hike up "Elephant Hill", one of four supposedly distinctive hills in a range on the eastern side of Taipei, each named after an animal, thus collectively referred to as the "beast" range. In fact, I think that's Taipei 101 at the top of this shot. There's apparently some good hiking in that range that is waiting for a sunny day. But quite honestly, I can't tell one "beast" from another.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Colored Spade ("Hair")
2. Death in the Park (Archers of Loaf)
3. I Believe in You (Neil Young)
4. All Blues (Rebirth Marching Jazz Band)
5. Marianne (Tori Amos)
6. The Loneliest Guy (David Bowie)
7. Happiness is a Warm Gun (outtake) (The Beatles)
8. BBtone (live) (Pinback)
9. White Shadow (Peter Gabriel)
10. Mystery Band (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)

Taipei 101

April 1, 2006 - Exactly a month ago. Taipei 101, currently the tallest building in the world, is not done justice in the fisheye view. I'm sure there is a cool fisheye view, I just haven't found it.



iTunes soundtrack:
1. I'm So Tired (The Beatles)
2. Slow Marimbas (live) (Peter Gabriel)
3. Scoff (Nirvana)
4. Big Black Mariah (live) (Tom Waits)
5. She Chameleon (demo) (Marillion)
6. Don't Pull It Down ("Hair")
7. Fantasies Come True ("Avenue Q")
8. In Or Out (live) (Ani DiFranco)
9. Monsoon (Enon)
10. Solitude (Ella Fitzgerald)

Riverside Bikeways

March 30, 2006 - Taipei's riverside bikeway system is seriously, impressively world-class. However, access to these seriously, impressively world-class bikeways is decidedly, unimpressively ...third-world-class. Not that any third world country has the luxury to develop their riversides for bicycle recreation. It's too bad because they're like a great idea gone to waste because of poor planning, but if you know what Taiwanese/Chinese are like, it's no surprise. That's not a put down. Their thinking and mindset is just different. Even if considerations obvious to an American planner were presented to them, they might just not see the need to consider it. We call them boneheads, but I'm sure they consider our ways and have equivalent words for us.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Concrete Jungle (live) (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
2. America (She Can't Say No) (Throwing Muses)
3. Curtains (Peter Gabriel)
4. The Blue Bus Blues (Bakufu Slump)
5. Here's Where the Story Ends (The Sundays)
6. Old Friends (Simon & Garfunkel)
7. Been A Son (Nirvana)
8. Murder Movies (Unwound)
9. Never-Ending Math Equation (Modest Mouse)
10. Symphony No. 10, II. Allegro (Shostakovich)