January 17, 2008 - Xindian, Taiwan. So long ago, opening frame on this roll, which is why it's cut off. Although I'm not sure why it's cut off on the right. Shouldn't the opening frame be cut off on the left? Maybe my film is messing with my mind.

That's where I used to live. I think at that time, I had just told my landlord I would probably stay there indefinitely, but then my current apartment came to my attention through family members, and a month and a half later I moved. My current landlord is my cousin's uncle. Which could mean my father, which would suck since he'd be charging me rent (bastard), but no, it's an uncle on her mother's side. I don't have enough good things to say about her mother's side of the family, all of them wonderful people. My cousin perhaps being the least among them, having blood mingled with my side of the family, haha!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Hateful (The Clash)
2. Hate My Way (Throwing Muses)
3. Symphony No. 41, I. Allegro vivace (Mozart)
4. The Nuttycracker Suite ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
5. Power to the People (John Lennon)
6. Little Amsterdam (Tori Amos)
7. Song of Complaint (Askarian & Khatchaturian - "Passion" sources)
8. Oliver! ("Oliver!")
9. Admiral Perry (David Byrne - Music for "The Knee Plays")
10. Worse Than Detroit (Robert Plant)

September 28, 2007 - Xindian, Taiwan. From the roof of my building. There's a rainbow in this lomo on what looks like a perfectly sunny day. That was a weird weather week preceding Typhoon Krosa hitting Taiwan. My guess is that high level winds from the storm blew moisture far and wide, and it fell like rain in places where there were no rain clouds, also creating clear day rainbows.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Perfect (The The)
2. The Fletcher Memorial Home (Pink Floyd)
3. Dhadkne Saansein Jawane ("Beta" - Bollywood)
4. 17 (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. 情熱 (安全地帶)
6. Don't Believe The Hype (Public Enemy)
7. Stairway to Heaven (live) (Led Zeppelin)
8. Was It A Lie? (Sleater-Kinney)
9. Hazy (Dakota Floyd)
10. The Invitation (The Black Heart Procession)

2 shots out my window, consecutive frames, different days

August 1, 2007 - I think this is the day I returned from the U.S.. I got back in the morning and went to afternoon class, loser that I am. It was overcast and the light was low, so this is a long-exposure with streaks of traffic visible.


August 15, 2007 - Sunny morning rush hour traffic. Seeing this every morning is a wonderful reminder of what I never want to be - a commuter schlep in rush hour traffic. Although I guess I did do that in San Francisco on rainy days when I didn't ride my bike. Still, that was better than riding a motor-scooter in a toxic cloud of exhaust.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Made-Up Dream (Built to Spill)
2. Masoko Tanga (The Police)
3. Portrait (He Knew) (remix) (Kansas)
4. Respectable Street (XTC)
5. Never Say No ("The Fantasticks")
6. Kamakura Monogatari (Southern All-Stars)
7. Little Fury Bugs (Death Cab For Cutie)
8. A New Way to Fly (Marunouchi Sadistic) (Shiina Ringo)
9. Quite a Feeling (Sahara Hotnights)
10. 40 (U2)

reverse shots

June 24, 2007 - Standing on the Roosevelt Road overpass (actually Beixin Road, since it's in Xindian). Fuxing Road is going under. That's my building off-center left, with the mostly brown fascade. That top power line, where it meets the building (not the building behind), is my window, from where the below lomo was shot the next day on a new roll. I don't think I planned it that way.


June 25, 2007 - Fuxing Road below, Beixin Road overpass. The next day, on a new roll. Sunny morning, as opposed to a cloudy afternoon, which is how it's been almost every day this Summer. Works for me with afternoon classes and morning rides.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Penelope (Pinback)
2. The Queen of Detroit (+/-)
3. Omoide no Stardust (Southern All-Stars)
4. Rimbaud (Yuko Hara)
5. Return of the Tres (Delinquent Habits)
6. Cello Suite No. 4, VI. Gigue (J.S. Bach)
7. Am I Going Insane (Radio) (Black Sabbath)
8. Toriaezu Nan ka Tabeyou (Makihara Noriyuki)
9. Guiltiness (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
10. Angels Rush In (Versus)

(From) My Room

June 8, 2007- During morning rush hour, that strip of road often gets choked with motor scooters, which is what I was trying to capture. But the long exposure because it was raining and dark, and the changing of the light at the intersection got me this interesting result.


June 7, 2007 - Lying on my bed with nothing else to shoot.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Picture Book (The Kinks)
2. One (Sakura)
3. Quinn Beast (Archers of Loaf)
4. This Is The Day (The The)
5. The Miracle (Queen)
6. Humming ("Carnival")
7. Aubade (MC Solaar)
8. Symphony for Strings in Ab Minor (Shostakovich)
9. Asking For It (Hole)
10. Ava Adore (Smashing Pumpkins)

A simple view out my window

April 18, 2007 - Hsindian, Taiwan, shooting southwest. Fuxing Road below is the street I live on. The overpass is Beixin Road, which becomes Roosevelt Road in Taipei once it crosses the Jingmei River just to the north.

The buildings in the distance on the right hand side is a Tzu Chi hospital. Tzu Chi is a Buddhist organization (more so than a monastery) that emphasizes service as a means towards enlightenment. I think it's a notable and noble way of going about it. So it's neat they have their own hospitals. But I think Christians have been doing this sort of thing for a while now. They just believe in God, not enlightenment.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Lowest Part is Free (live) (Archers of Loaf)
2. Lounge Act (Nirvana)
3. Rafael (Seam)
4. Wrapped Around Your Finger (live) (The Police)
5. Ticket to the Moon (Electric Light Orchestra)
6. F-Encounter (Bootsy Collins)
7. Guiltiness (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
8. Johnsburg, Illinois (live) (Tom Waits)
9. Eraikocha! (Bakufu Slump)
10. Starstruck (The Kinks)

finishing up a ride

February 23, 2007 - Hsindian, Taiwan. Riding back from the Wulai border seemed so much shorter than going there, but I guess that is usually the case. Going seems longer than the returning. As I approached the area where rural Hsindian transitions into urban Hsindian, traffic clogged the roads with people returning from New Years family visits, I presume, although this lomo fails to capture the traffic.


Bah! Blurry lomo of Hsindian. Don't know why since I doubt this was an extended exposure. This lomo fails to capture urban Hsindian, which in honesty appears no different from urban Taipei, or any other urban area in Taiwan. Not sure what those buildings are way up on that mountain in the back, but I know somewhere up there are dorms often used by Japanese students who come to study here. It's a matter of online marketing. When I was looking for housing, I never came across anything about them, but in Japanese web searches they apparently turn up readily.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Punch & Judy (Marillion)
2. Wulu Sky (David Darling & the Wulu Bunun)
3. A Soapbox Opera (live) (Supertramp)
4. Poets Problem (Blondie)
5. (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
6. Jerusalem (Sinead O'Connor)
7. Talula (Tornado Mix) (Tori Amos)
8. Hot Hot Hot!!! (The Cure)
9. Cry For Everything Bad That's Ever Happened (Le Tigre)
10. Mr. Walker (Renie) (Wes Montgomery)

South of Hsindian

February 23, 2007 - Having returned to Taipei from Kaohsiung, with 3 weeks of New Years break, and a day of decent weather, I headed south of Hsindian on my bike, which I keep telling myself can't handle long rides. And this wasn't long. If I had my regular road bike, this would probably still be in the first quarter of a ride, but I made it as far as the Wulai border. Wulai is the town south of Hsindian (I think) and is slightly famous for hot springs. Hm, I wonder how a soak would be in the middle of a ride! Not sure what happened to this exposure.


Scenery south of Hsindian. In my mind, it's partly what I consider the "real" Taiwan. Taipei, as I've mentioned, doesn't feel like Taiwan to me. It feels like Taipei occupied by mainland Chinese. Taipei is, in many ways, dominated by mainland culture. For better or worse is not for me to say. I think this is all still the Hsindian River.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Tsumiki Asobi (Shiina Ringo)
2. #41 (Dave Matthews Band)
3. Spiral (John Coltrane)
4. Candyland (Kristin Hersh)
5. You Shook Me (live) (Led Zeppelin)
6. Reject All-American (Bikini Kill)
7. Back in N.Y.C. (live) (Genesis)
8. Always More Often (Rainer Maria)
9. Rudie Can't Fail (The Clash)
10. I Can't Get You Off Of My Mind (The The)

Jingmei River, Taipei, Taiwan: nightshot

February 22, 2007 - Jingmei River, Taipei, Taiwan. This is one perspective of my neighborhood. It was probably raining then. My apartment is behind one of the buildings on the right-hand side, in Hsindian. On the left is the riverside bikeway in Taipei that I take to go to language classes everyday. The bridge over there is the Jingmei Bridge and I cross it everyday, if not to go to class, to go to the Jingmei night market which is right there-ish. I'm standing on the bridge that takes you from Roosevelt Road in Taipei to Beishin Road in Hsindian.

As for that big bright building in the center, it's pretty fancy and is right on the river. Today I went by it to try to figure out what it is, and it looks like luxury apartments.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Shooting Star (Versus)
2. Home (Roger Waters)
3. Swing Pool (Blonde Redhead)
4. Raspberry Beret (Prince)
5. Always, Always You ("Carnival")
6. Peanuts (The Police)
7. Liquid Diamonds (Tori Amos)
8. Hanadairo (Chitose Hajime)
9. Doe (The Breeders)
10. Stare At the Sun (Deadweight)

I Moved Again!

Well sort of, it's the same building, same landlady.

During the last big rain last week, the leak in my ceiling got worse (it leaked to a manageable extent in early March), and I started freaking out. By freaking out, that means my emails to the landlady were on the verge of becoming not-so-cordial.

It just so happened that an apartment on the 6th floor just became available. She said I could sleep up there until the leak was fixed since the leak was right over the sleeping area. When she came by to give me the keys, she said I could move into the apartment if I wanted to, too. Playing it cool, I told her I would think about it and let her know as soon as possible. In my mind, I jumped at the opportunity and decided to wait until the next morning to tell her, yes, I wanted to move.

The selling point was that it has windows with views:

April 11, 2007 - It's smaller and more worn than the downstairs apartment. It's also bound to be hotter in the Summer months and it's much more noisier (read: previous apartment was newer, cooler, and quieter). However, I don't need a lot of room, I don't have a lot of stuff and would be happy to get rid of some of what I have; I love the heat and practically thrive in it; and the noise doesn't bother me, it makes me feel like I'm living in a city.

It's also much more private. Downstairs I could clearly hear my neighbor sneeze and cough because of some hole in the wall above the false ceiling. Also sounds from other apartments with windows in the alley my window faced made me feel like I was living in slums. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, it was actually quite homey in a community-feel sort of way.

In my new apartment, I'm comfortable making any amount of noise, I only have one hall neighbor and it seems he's not around much anyway. When I open my windows, the traffic noise is so loud I feel perfectly comfortable whipping out my guitar and wailing away a few bars of "Hey Joe". Or not.

The view out my new window:

I feel much more part of the city. Actually a parade of emergency vehicles just went wailing by, and whereas before I could just hear them, I could see them now. I've never seen so many emergency vehicles negotiating typical Taiwan traffic that has no concept of pulling to the side when emergency vehicles are riding up their asses. You know, people, someday it's going to be one of your grandparents or your house on fire, and you'll want people getting out of the way of fire trucks and ambulances.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Artificial Man (The Kinks)
2. Let 'Em In (Wings)
3. Heart Full of Soul (The Yardbirds)
4. Sent For You Yesterday and Here You Come Today (Count Basie)
5. Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.)
6. Love Song (Nokko)
7. The Blue Bus Blues (Bakufu Slump)
8. Napoleon (live) (Ani DiFranco)
9. Silverfuck (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Father Ruler King Computer (Echobelly)

Xindian

February 13, 2007 - Xindian, Taiwan. Footbridge crossing over the Xindian River in the Xindian recreational area near the Xindian MRT station.


Xindian River paddle boats with the Bitan Bridge in the background.


Riding home along the Xindian riverside bikeway.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Avenue (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan)
2. I Can't Get You Off Of My Mind (The The)
3. Sparks of the Tempest (Kansas)
4. Dollars & Cents (Radiohead)
5. Golden Tiger (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
6. Downer (Nirvana)
7. Ajisai Dori (Spitz)
8. Pan in "A" Minor (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)
9. Add It Up (The Kinks)
10. Because It's There (Michael Hedges)

light leak

February 13, 2007 - Beginning of the roll. It happens sometimes that light seeps in and exposes the film at the very beginning.


Xindian, Taiwan, in the neighborhood around the Xindian MRT station, the farthest south station on the MRT system. These two shots are roughly two sides of the same row of buildings. The buildings on the left in the bottom shot are in the same row as the buildings on the left on the top shot. The bottom shot is looking south, the top shot is looking north. Off to the right of the lower shot is the Hsindian River.

The top shot is a quiet residential street. Off to the right in the bottom shot is a public recreation area with booths, food, games, and ample pedal boats, almost boardwalk-y.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. White Russians (demo) (Marillion)
2. Pictures at an Exhibition, Promenade-The Market at Limoges-Catacombs (Mussorgsky)
3. Hide and Seek (Dreams Come True)
4. Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers... (Genesis)
5. Bunun Tuza (David Darling & the Wulu Bunun)
6. Status Quo (Throwing Muses)
7. D/FW (The Vaughan Brothers)
8. Re-Enact the Crime (Unwound)
9. Mushaboom (demo) (Leslie Feist)
10. The Pan in Me (Amoco Renegades Steel Orchestra)

Hsindian River

February 13, 2007 - A few days after I officially moved to Hsindian, south of Taipei, I took off on my bike even further souther, south of Hsindian. The roads led to fantastic scenery and
much more of a "Taiwan feel". It made me feel that Taipei is exactly what the Taiwanese international sports teams are referred to as: Chinese Taipei. Taipei feels like it's occupied by (mainland) Chinese people and Chinese culture. I'm feeling that Taipei is not Taiwanese culture.

Not that this is good or bad. I came to Taiwan thinking I was pretty green - pro-Taiwan independence - probably greener than the rest of my family, because I believe in self-determination and human rights. Now I'm just pro-peace and reconciliation, although I don't think that is possible until the mainland Chinese government changes. That's the international matter.

Domestically, I've come to feel that Taiwan is rightfully a part of China. Taiwan, as a province, is no different from any other Chinese province. That is, it has its own culture and language, but it's still Chinese. Taiwan, as separate from China, is a Cold War relic. I may have my history wrong, I should probably look this up, but if it wasn't for the U.S., Mao Tse-tung would have chased Chiank Kai-shek to Taiwan and wiped out the Nationalists once and for all. Seriously, what else would have stopped him?

I think a viable Taiwanese attitude might be, "Fine, we're Chinese, we're part of China, we don't want to be independent, but we want to be part of democratic government that respects human and state rights. We'll wait until the climate changes, and then we'll reunite". And I do think the Communist government will change or fall eventually, just like any other Chinese dynasty. It'll be the 共產朝 - the Communist Dynasty.

Oh, whoops. I forgot I'm on blog. This is a road that runs along the Hsindian River heading to Wulai. I have no idea what the huge structure is, or what it does, but it looked like they were still building something on it or around it.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Nathan Jones (The Supremes)
2. Bounce ("Bounce" - Sondheim)
3. I Can See for Kilometers (The Who)
4. See Emily Play (Pink Floyd)
5. Failure (Kings of Convenience)
6. On the Air (Peter Gabriel)
7. Radar Follows You (Versus)
8. Female of the Species Chase ("Barnum")
9. I'm a Brass Band ("Sweet Charity")
10. Blank Page (Smashing Pumpkins)

rooftop deck

February 13, 2007 - View from my rooftop deck looking southeast over Hsindian. That building on the left was previously scene in this prior entry. The Jingmei River is to the left of this shot. The road right here in front is Fuxing Road, and if you follow it just to the end of this shot, you hit a bridge that puts you back in Taipei. Likewise if you take the cross street right here and go left, you almost immediately hit a bridge that goes back into Taipei. So Taipei still is definitely my reference, but the unfortunate reality is that I now live in Hsindian, making me inferior.


Turn around from the previous shot and this is the rooftop deck.


Walk forward in the previous shot and shoot down the alley on the right, and you can see a sliver of the Jingmei River and Taipei beyond.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. All Day and All of the Night (live) (The Kinks)
2. Nothing Achieving (The Police)
3. Iro Iro no Ba (Yuko Hara)
4. Cheeseballs in Cowtown (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
5. I'm Nothing Without You ("City of Angels")
6. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? (R.E.M.)
7. See the Positive (The Maupin/Williams Project)
8. Symphony No. 41, I. Allegro vivace (Mozart)
9. The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea ("Pacific Overtures" - Sondheim)
10. Oh (Fugazi)

New neighborhood

December 3, 2006 - Like I said, I'm moving. Coincidentally, I have shots taken with my as-of-yet-unnamed Lomographic Society Fisheye 2, Roll 1, of the neighborhood I'm moving to, sort of.

This is a small bridge crossing the Jingmei River. Just off camera to the right is also a small bridge but carrying a larger road, Roosevelt Road, a major Taipei thoroughfare. Behind me is Taipei and the entryway to the riverside parks/bikeways, ahead is Hsindian city.

So on the right hand side of this shot are three buildings. My new building is behind the middle building in this shot. I'll be living on the fifth floor, which will be quieter, and there is a rooftop area to check on the weather before going out since my window faces the side of a building.

Note the lime green signage on the wall of the river embankment, and that's the reference for the shot below, where the sign is along the right hand side of the lomo. This is shot from the Roosevelt Road bridge, named after the famous Christopher Roosevelt, inventor of the garbage system in Taiwan whereby small garbage trucks roll down the street playing music, which is the signal for people to bring their trash out, chase down the trucks, and chuck their trash in. OK, I totally made that up, I don't know who Roosevelt Road is named after, but it might be one of the two famous American ones.

Now from here, if I had a high-tech zoom gadget like on Discovery Channel documentaries, I'd guide the viewer to the left hand side of the bridge, and noting the pink tall buildings on the right for reference, that's where the below lomo was shot.


Actually, this was the first shot of this series, as I rode up this road to cross the bridge into Hsindian. The entry to the riverside bikeway is to the right, but unseen in this shot. This old guy was walking his bike up a small incline, and I think he was sort of in my way, so I did what I usually do when people are in my way and took a lomo of him. One of these days I'll learn to be civil and just hit him or tell him to get the hell out of my way. I spent six months in a monastery, but I think I'm cured now.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Lords of the Backstage (Marillion)
2. Tune the Rainbow (Maaya Sakamoto - "RahXephon")
3. Chinsagu no Hana (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
4. Sea Girl (Versus)
5. For You Blue (The Beatles - Anthology)
6. Wake Up (Skip Holiday)
7. Don't Give Up (live) (Peter Gabriel)
8. Mofo (U2)
9. Taiwan Made (Wu Bai & China Blue)
10. Buzzcity Talking (XTC)