OK, I've been tagged by yo'm sayin' for 8 random things about me. And as sweet and wonderful as she is, I can't very well ignore the tag, even though there is nothing random about me. I am a very, very intentional person.

1. I've spoken at the U.N. in Geneva.
2. When I get hiccups, I get them for a long time. Right now, I'm in the 37th hour of the latest hiccup attack.
3. I've been working on getting over my fear of spiders for over 15 years, and I think I've succeeded, but I know the true test will be the next time I walk into a full cobweb (I expect to fail).
4. I don't keep friends long enough for any of them to know what musical instruments I play, or what my activities are that mark my identity.
5. I'm really bad at learning languages.
6. I like learning about physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and quantum physics for fun (not saying I understand it).
7. I haven't had sex long enough to be considered a reborn virgin several times over. And this doesn't bother me.
8. My first car was a 1977 metallic rust Sedan De Ville Cadillac. I didn't know I was a macdaddy until I drove it to college and someone pointed it out. cool.

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, because whenever I tag people to do this, they think it's the stupidest thing in the world and refuse to do it. So I invite anyone to take the tag and tell me about it in my comments.

Sun Yat-Sen University

May 27, 2007 - Sun Yat-Sen University campus, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.


Sun Yat-Sen University is right on the beach, so the waterfront is right there. And where there is waterfront, you have these giant concrete jacks, which I think is a Japanese idea.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Signs of LOVE (Dreams Come True)
2. Lord Is It Mine? (Supertramp)
3. Sensation (The Who)
4. The Long Arm of the Law (764-HERO)
5. The River (Throwing Muses)
6. Josh Song (Deadweight)
7. Thoroughly Modern Millie ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
8. Top of the Pops (The Kinks)
9. Cartoons (Kristin Hersh)
10. Insignificance (Pearl Jam)

Kaohsiung potpouri

Can you believe it? Can you even imagine? I'm in New Jersey with no internet (only at my brother's apartment for brief periods that it's OK to be anti-social). Now I'm glad I made my trip shorter, rather than longer. Ohmigod, how sad is that, when the quality of a visit to the family homestead is a function of internet access. I say revolution, man, bring down the internet! What do we want? Revolution! When do we want it? When we're done downloading!


May 26, 2007 - Back to the Kaoshiung lomostroll. Taoist temple. I'm so glad the gaudiness of Chinese tastes never made it to Japan. Or at least never overpowered the Japanese aesthetic. Sure, this is colorful, but spiritually tacky!


So this is a story too long to tell. Actually, a reason I went to Kaohsiung this time was to attend the Taiwan side of a wedding reception of a cousin on my father's side who now lives in the U.S.. The last time I saw her, she was a baby, maybe not even a year old. In fact, I know next to no one on my father's side, and apparently the majority of this crowd are relatives on my father's side. There's sure a lot of them not to know.

Can't see much here, but it was the entrance of the wedding party. I held the shutter open for a long exposure and then the flash triggered at the end of the exposure.


May 27, 2007 - Another low-light long-exposure in a tunnel which is a shortcut to Sun Yat-sen University on the beach in Kaohsiung.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Sing a Simple Song (Sly & the Family Stone)
2. Swordfishtrombone (Tom Waits)
3. Clay Feet (Kristin Hersh)
4. Adia (Sarah McLachlan)
5. Once a Thief (The Kinks)
6. Hanadairou (Hajime Chitose)
7. Kessen wa Kinyoubi (Dreams Come True)
8. Fifteen Seconds (Idiot Box)
9. Get Higher (Seam)
10. Pride & Joy (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)

Kaohsiung Harbor

May 26, 2007 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I guess this is still part of the harbor. It's a mixed use area of the harbor near its mouth. There's a lot of new development going on in this area, bringing in a more diversified crowd. I doubt photos can convey how searing hot it is in Kaohsiung at midday. Those trees with the red flowers on top apparently bloom in this kinda of weather.


On the other side of the mountain in the back is Shiziwan Bay and Sun Yat-Sen University, so there are a lot of students that hang out in this area. Behind me are shaved ice shops with shaved ice bigger than my head. Um, literally, not figuratively. Usually groups of people order those, so although I wouldn't have minded diving into a bowl of shaved ice that size, I would be a bit too embarassed to. Besides, those shops are always packed to the rafters. Alas, I yap and yap about it, but have no shots of it. Lame.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Sweet Pea (Seam)
2. Stagnation (Genesis)
3. Mayonaka wa Junketsu (Shiina Ringo)
4. Doo Wop (That Thing) (Lauryn Hill)
5. Speed is the Key (The Sugarcubes)
6. Vic (Throwing Muses)
7. Harlem 125 (The Bubble Gum Brothers)
8. Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) (Martha Reeves & the Vandellas)
9. Hang Onto Yourself (David Bowie)
10. If I Were Your Woman (Gladys Knight & the Pips)

Kaohsiung fotoroll

May 26, 2007 - Just riding around Kaohsiung on a bike that my uncle got from his bank, for, like, opening an account. That sort of thing. The bike expanded my range in getting around, but one of the pedals broke off a few days later. Made in China.


Southwest Kaohsiung, towards Shiziwan Bay and Sun Yat-sen University. I took this lomo at 2:07 P.M., almost 2:08.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. She's an Angel (They Might Be Giants)
2. Kyoso (KODO Drummers)
3. Chop 'Em Down (Matisyahu)
4. Kouzou no Koushin (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
5. Nit Khair Mansan Sohnia Main Teri (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
6. Showdown (Electric Light Orchestra)
7. Give the People What They Want (The Kinks)
8. Nathan Jones (The Supremes)
9. Shiori no Theme (Southern All-Stars)
10. N.J.S. (National Joy Band)

fruits!

May 26, 2007 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Mango shaved ice is pretty much the same all over the island, but with local variations. Local variations aside, it's always good. A block away from my uncle's building are 3 famous shaved ice shops, all belonging to the same family, and all in competition with each other. That is to say, relations between the family members has not always been very good. The in-fighting has taken on proportions that make the local news.


Durian is more prevalent in the south of Taiwan. I've kind of gotten used to the smell, which is to say I don't have a physical reaction to it any more, usually darting away and banging my head against the nearest wall to get the smell out of my nose, but I still won't eat it. But the durian imported to Taiwan doesn't smell as strong as the durian I remember from Thailand, which was not allowed on most public buses because of the smell.

It never ceases to make me wonder who was the first person to come across durian to think, "Oh my God, this stuff smells awful! Let's see what it tastes like . . . mm, good!"

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Firth of Fifth (Genesis)
2. I've Been Mistreated (The Aislers Set)
3. A Soapbox Opera (Supertramp)
4. Drain You (Nirvana)
5. Tremelo (live) (Mission of Burma)
6. Evening of the Day (Supergrass)
7. Do Ya (Electric Light Orchestra)
8. Pug (Smashing Pumpkins)
9. X-Ray Man (Liz Phair)
10. Amurita (Chitose Hajime)

the family home

May 26, 2007 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Visiting family between semesters. This is my uncle's building in the south western portion of the city, not far from Shiziwan Bay. I think my family owns the building. My uncle lives on the 9th floor, and I stay on the 8th floor when I visit. I'm not going to ask anyone to count how many floors there are, so I'll just say that there aren't 9 floors in this building.

There is no floor that they call the 4th floor because the Chinese word for 4 is a homonym for the word for the death. Which makes no sense to me because the tones for the two words are different, and I'm told that words with different tones are considered to Chinese ears to be totally, completely, uncompromisingly different words. So "si" in the second tone and "si" in the third tone, although they sound the same to normal people, Chinese people hear them as differently as "alligator" and "Mombasa". Further not making sense is that with only about 16 sounds in Mandarin, there are about fifty zillion homonyms for 4.

Wu-fu 4th Road goes down the left side of the shot, and they're building a KMRT subway station right in front of the building. That should make getting around the city more convenient when the subway system opens in 2067. It's scheduled to be fully operational by, I think, 2009, so I think 2067 is a fair estimate for actual completion.

One of these days I need to get around to stop making fun of Taiwan and Chinese culture.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Mothership Connection (Star Child) (Parliament-Funkadelic)
2. Only Us (Peter Gabriel)
3. Acrobat (U2)
4. Ride Natty Ride (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
5. Symphony No. 4, II. Adagio (Beethoven)
6. Giant Steps (John Coltrane)
7. Death of a Clown (The Kinks)
8. Seaweed Rising (Versus)
9. Panama (J Church)
10. Oceanbound (764-HERO)

random shots to finish a roll

April 18, 2007 - Taida Mandarin language class. My class from last semester, actually the beginning of the roll. That's not our regular teacher. Our regular teacher's eyeball fell out, so we had a substitute for the whole of April. Detached retina or something. Our class was unusual because it was all guys. If that ever happens again, I want to try to get every one to go by color names like in Reservoir Dogs. As long as I'm not Mr. Pink (粉紅先生 - screw that!).


Film advance frame - a lomo fisheye shot of the back of the flimsy lens cap.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Carry That Weight (The Beatles)
2. Haole Redux (Seam)
3. Better Man (Pearl Jam)
4. Circles (Chick Corea Akoustic Band)
5. Animal (50 Foot Wave)
6. Not For the Life of Me (reprise) ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
7. I'm a Brass Band ("Sweet Charity")
8. Freaks (Marillion)
9. Iyahoi (Shoukichi Kina)
10. Survival (Bob Marley & the Wailers)

Campuses

May 21, 2007 - The main gate of the Shida University campus. On the gate is full name of the university: Xue Da Fan Shi Wan Tai Li Guo. Crap, probably no one got that joke. That's actually backwards. I practice being able to read it fluently backwards to get a rise out of cute Taiwanese chicks, but, alas, to no avail. Yet.


Looks like a department graduation pic outside the Taida Main Library. Oh hey, and you can see the two cubes of the Casablanca art exhibit in the distance, right in front of the library.

Here's a boring camera shot of the Casablanca thing in front of the library from this side of it. I would think that I would have shot it from this side, but it just never came up. Lomo fisheye shooting is pretty spontaneous and rarely planned (says I as I'm about to embark on a project to make sure I finish the current roll before I go back to the U.S. next Friday)

iTunes soundtrack:
1. 1542 (Mary Timony)
2. Secret Journey (The Police)
3. Graffiti (Throwing Muses)
4. Hot Fun in the Summer Time (Sly & the Family Stone)
5. Love Like Ours (Elastica)
6. Duke's End (Genesis)
7. Mabudi' (檳榔兄弟 - Taiwanese aboriginal)
8. Shine (Django Reinhardt)
9. Destroyer (The Kinks)
10. Roxie ("Chicago")

Casablanca

May 13, 2007 - Taida campus, in front of the main library. A few posts ago I introduced this Casablanca-themed "art" display on the green in front of the library.


May 19, 2007 - And two illuminated ones of the two cubes. That's a Rick's Cafe poster. I'm telling you, really random.

Those are the "You must remember this..." lyrics from "As Time Goes By". Didn't I tell you not to play that song . . . I said didn't I tell you to stop playing that fucking song? Sam, I'm warning you, stop playing that song! (takes out a pistol and shoots squirts Sam (water pistol). Random.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Trailer Trash (Modest Mouse)
2. Pixie (Ani DiFranco)
3. Kuki (Shiina Ringo)
4. Trouble Me (live) (10,000 Maniacs)
5. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (live at Wembley Stadium) (Genesis)
6. Reach Out (I'll Be There) (The Four Tops)
7. Burning Down the House (live) (Talking Heads)
8. New Year (The Breeders)
9. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (The Police)
10. Magic Bus (live) (The Who)

motor scooter madness

May 11, 2007 - Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. From an environmental point of view, I'm not so concerned about The Global Warming. We can't destroy the environment. We can't destroy the Earth. The Earth and its environment is very resilient. All we can do is make it unliveable for human beings. Once we eliminate ourselves, or reduce our numbers to a sustainable level, the environment will recover. From a human point of view, I'm pretty concerned about the planet we're leaving our children and grandchildren. Because of what we're doing, they're going to suffer.

But maybe the Doom has to occur. If it doesn't occur, how will we know what we shouldn't have done? If we didn't drop nuclear weapons on two civilian populations, how would we know what a horrific way it is to end a war, or wage a war for that matter? Yea, the logic eludes me, too.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Detroit 442 (Blondie)
2. Yes, My Heart ("Carnival")
3. Black and Grey (Deadweight)
4. Pale and Precious (Dukes of Stratosphear)
5. Over Under Sideways Down (The Yardbirds)
6. The Song Remains the Same (Led Zeppelin)
7. Inori (Hajime Chitose)
8. Walkin' Shoes (Chet Baker)
9. Talent ("Bounce" - Sondheim)
10. For the Stars (Elvis Costello & Anne Sofie Von Otter)

Off Nanjing East Road

May 11, 2007 - Instead of doing something to prevent accidents, they just label it an accident area, pass at your own risk. Call me boring, but if I see it's an "accident area", I try to avoid it. No thanks, yo'm sayin'?


Community bulletin board. I think they're most for rent signs. There's a strange uniformity in the colors. I've been staring at this for hours looking for a pattern, but...nil.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Alice Springs (Liz Phair)
2. Lonely Lonely (Feist)
3. Dave the Butcher (Tom Waits)
4. The World at Large (Modest Mouse)
5. London Madrid (The Aislers Set)
6. So Right (Dave Matthews Band)
7. Workin' for T.V. (Southern All-Stars)
8. Happiness is a Warm Gun (The Beatles)
9. Our Love Was, Is (The Who)
10. Dear God (XTC)

bikes and Taida campus

May 21, 2007 - Royal Palm Blvd. on the Taida Campus, riding towards the library. This is actually the kill roll frame, just using up the roll so I could get it developed.


May 9, 2007 - That's my bike, which is about to fall apart in too many ways to count. I keep wondering what it would be like if the rear suspension just detached, because that's what it feels like it's about to do. One of the brakes effectively doesn't work anymore, as I found out while trying to stop while having a camera in my other hand. The left crank also feels like it's about to fall off, even after a campus bike shop wrench tightened it to no avail. And the front tire is so worn that there are places where the rubber is completely gone.

I fancy that when the bike becomes unrideable, I'll just remove the locks and abandon it, but there are probably more responsible means of bike disposal that I should find out about. I think I've had this bike for almost a year now. My does time fly.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Sambita (Kinky)
2. Apeman (The Kinks)
3. Thru These Walls (Phil Collins)
4. Accretions (Shriekback)
5. Noogie (Versus)
6. Valentine (Skip Holiday)
7. Savoy Truffle (The Beatles)
8. Milk (Garbage)
9. Lotta Stuffis? (Victor Wooten)
10. BBTone (Pinback)

but is it art?

May 7, 2007 - Twilight outside of the Taida main library, looking down Royal Palm Boulevard, with silhouetted emphasis on why it's named that. Actually, if you look close enough, you'd see:


May 19, 2007 - an art installation on the green outside of the main library. It has something to do with the movie 'Casablanca', but the reference seems pretty random. In real time, I just saw them taking it down this past Friday, so it's been there for quite a while

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Nutty (Thelonius Monk)
2. Rise (Rainer Maria)
3. Reel (Throwing Muses)
4. 37.6 (Chitose Hajime)
5. Psychoticbumpschool (Bootsy Collins)
6. Fame (David Bowie)
7. All I Care About ("Chicago")
8. Going Mobile (The Who)
9. Sherman Shuffle (Duke Ellington)

Riverside Bikeways - Gongguan

May 2, 2007 - Gongguan riverside bikeway and park. This has been completed in the last year. When I first found this area, it was still under construction and it was mostly dirt paths that had to be navigated. No more Sailor Moon posing since I'm using the 2's viewfinder more for more predictable composition.


Another shot under the Yong Fu Bridge.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. All That's All Right, But (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
2. Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)
3. Red (Belly)
4. War/No More Trouble (live) (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
5. San Jacinto (Peter Gabriel)
6. Trilogy (Sonic Youth)
7. M1A1 (Gorillaz)
8. Keep Up the Speed (Sahara Hotnights)
9. All You Pretty Girls (XTC)
10. Emerald Lies (Marillion)

Player Rehearsal Studios

May 7, 2007 - Practice studio near my old school on Heping East Road. Pretty nice studios, half decent drum sets, some are even Yamahas - my favorite - albeit low end Yamaha Stage Customs. I'm not complaining - the U.S. doesn't have set ups like this anywhere. They have 4 small rooms just for drum practice, and they have rooms for other instruments, as well as several large rooms for band practice.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Prove My Love (Violent Femmes)
2. Miss Gradenko (The Police)
3. When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin)
4. Oh! Pretty Woman (Van Halen)
5. Mayonnaise (live acoustic) (Smashing Pumpkins)
6. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her (XTC)
7. Too Much Heaven (The Bee Gees)
8. Down Yonder (Dejan's Olympia Brass Band)
9. It's Too Late (Carole King)
10. Jungle Princess (Princess Princess)

芒果牛奶冰

May 7, 2007 - Shida night market area. Shaved ice with mango and condensed milk. My local addiction and regular happy food. When people rave about this or that shaved ice place, I keep my mouth shut about my little secret, that Shida Road has four really good shops on one block. This place is empty in this pic because it's summer vacation and in the middle of the day. I don't live near Shida night market or go to Shida Chinese language center anymore, but I still practice drums in that area, so I have an excuse to still go to these places often. I know, shameless.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Wall (Kansas)
2. Who's Gonna Wild Your Ride Horses (U2)
3. The Sinking Feeling (The The)
4. Pan in a Rage (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)
5. Bridge (Marillion)
6. You Can't Hurry Love (Phil Collins)
7. Out in the Streets (The Shangri-La's) (Versus)
8. Left-Hand Suzuki Method (Gorillaz)
9. Nobody Home (Pink Floyd)
10. Pompeii (Sleater-Kinney)

Yongfu Bridge

May 2, 2007 - Under the Yongfu Bridge along the riverside bikeway. The Yongfu Bridge connects the Gongguan area of Taipei to Yong He city across the Xindian River. There are a bunch of small cities across the rivers on the western side of Taipei that make up the greater Taipei area.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Shy (live) (Ani DiFranco)
2. Hell in a Handbasket (20 Minute Loop)
3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles)
4. Melodi Ya Lla (Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens)
5. Agent Orange (Tori Amos)
6. The Only Flame in Town (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
7. Hymn 43 (Jethro Tull)
8. You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Nights) (Meatloaf)
9. Symphony No. 40, I. Molto Allegro (Mozart)
10. Lady Stardust (David Bowie)

exposure play

May 1, 2007 - Gongguan footbridge overlooking Roosevelt Road. Rush hour continues after the sun sets. No movement in this long exposure. I probably held the shutter open for at least 5 seconds (braced against the guardrail, no doubt).


Same footbridge looking the other direction, multiple exposures this time. I just kept holding the advance and shooting over and over again, I'm sure more than 10 times.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Mayonnaise (acoustic) (Smashing Pumpkins)
2. Vivace (remix) (Nokko)
3. Fourth Lute Suite, "Gavotte" (J.S. Bach)
4. Lesson #8 ("Sunday in the Park With George" - Sondheim)
5. Sweet Depression (Deadweight)
6. Headlights (Cat Power)
7. Tea in the Sahara (The Police)
8. Bigtime Sensuality (Björk)
9. I'm Open (Pearl Jam)
10. Chloe (Song of the Swamp) (Duke Ellington)

Miramar Mall

May 1, 2007 - There's a ferris wheel on top of the mall, next to the IMAX theater. Miramar Mall is in the Dazhi section of Taipei, north of the Keelung River. I went there to meet up with Hyun Ae to see Spiderman 3. At least she liked it.

To me, the movie couldn't decide who was a good guy and who was a bad guy, and they kept taking turns being good or bad guys. The only clear bad guy is initially treated as a minor character so it was hard adjusting him to become the bad guy. Furthermore, the suit is never explained well, what it is, where did it come from, what is it doing? Anything plunging to earth from outer space, surviving atmospheric entry does not making a light plop on the forest floor. It blazes as a fireball at several hundreds of miles per hour, creating a huge crater that would have crisped even Spiderman. Although the metaphor of the black suit is good. I often feel like that with my black suit. But taken literally in the movie, and being defeated by bells, was pretty silly, although the metaphor of the bell also works for me if you consider all monasteries have bells. But that's taking it a little too far. There is no Dharma of Spiderman 3.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Rustle ("Haibane Renmei")
2. Ballad of Lemons (Blonde Redhead)
3. Cheapskate (Supergrass)
4. Measure (Kristin Hersh)
5. Strangled by the Stereo Wire (Archers of Loaf)
6. Accidentally Kelly Street! (Frente!)
7. Oppression (Ben Harper)
8. The Quarterdrawing of the Dog (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
9. Show Business (A Tribe Called Quest)
10. 我無所謂 (A-Mei)