September 17, 2008 - Taipei Main Station with its grand looking interior. I should've aimed a little more up. Whenever I look up there, I think what a waste of space, they could've done something with that. Taipei Main Station is a hub that includes regular trains, the transfer station of the two major MRT lines, and the High Speed Rail. On the second floor, where I'm standing, is a mega foodcourt that goes all around this space. Just across the street to the north, they are putting the finishing touches on a centralized bus depot, which I assume will house all the long-haul tour bus companies in one place. It will also be a shopping center, multiplex, office space, and luxury residences.


September 24, 2008 - Kaohsiung MRT Formosa Boulevard Station. Not exactly the equivalent of Taipei Main Station, but as close as Kaohsiung can get to it. Kaohsiung's main train station is just a train station, even though there is a KMRT station attached to it now. It's an old, dingy, no nonsense, get-people-to-their-trains station. But Formosa Boulevard Station is the transfer station for the two lines of the KMRT, and so it's the dolled up, flagship, pride-of-the-KMRT station.

I'm in Kaohsiung now, and I passed right by this impressive public art piece called "Dome of Light" this morning. I took the overnight bus after I got off of work, arriving after 5:30 in the morning.

I'm here because today is the first day of eligibility to apply for getting my Taiwanese citizen ID card, after more than a year of waiting and unable to leave the country.

I had to apply for my ID card back then, and now I had to apply to get it. Go fig. They say I'll get it in 2 weeks, at which point I have to apply for a Taiwanese passport (despite the fact that I already have one), which will take another week. So I've already booked a flight to go to the U.S. in June for 3 weeks.

That's going to put things at work in a real mess, but I've been stuck here since January 2008, and the newspaper gave me the serious shaft for about six months, and even though that was under my old boss, who retired, I'm still holding it against the paper in that I'm not going to go any extra miles for them, and I have no loyalty to them; although I will continue to do the best job I can, just because that's my work ethic, I think, and support the new boss and his changes (one of which included bringing me back full-time, but on my terms, which is 4 days a week), and make the position I'm in as professional as possible - which it hasn't been.

Anyway, we need to hire new people for the position, and the situation in June is turning out to make it absolutely urgent to get trainees in very, very soon, or it will really suck for someone. Not me. I'll be eating the best pizza and lasagna in the world.

2 lomos that have nothing to do with each other

August 19, 2008 - Shandao Temple on Zhongxiao East Road, Sec. 1. This is an urban Buddhist temple and is the name of the MRT stop one away from the central MRT stop at Taipei Main Station. I've never been inside. Something about it being in the middle of a city and looking huge and ornate puts me off.


September 3, 2008 - Inside a beef noodle shop in my neighborhood. Beef noodle soup is, like, one of the national dishes of Taiwan, although beef has been putting me off lately. Oh, hey, I guess these two pictures do have something to do with each other! Two things that put me off!

I dunno, the last time I ate beef, several weeks ago, I kinda felt sick, but not physically, just like I wasn't thrilled about eating beef. That happened before with seafood a long time ago, too. That time I just felt like a cannibal, which led me to believe I was seafood in a string of previous lives. It's not that I can't eat seafood, I just avoid it if I have a choice about it.

I've been avoiding beef and cutting down on meat in general and I actually have been feeling . . . less . . . something - weighted down? Less heavy? I'm not making a turn for more healthy, just going for what feels better.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. My Weapon (XTC)
2. Starla (Smashing Pumpkins)
3. Sayonara (Dreams Come True)
4. Dissident (Pearl Jam)
5. Revenge (live) (Archers of Loaf)
6. Back of Your Head (Cat Power)
7. Happy Jack (live) (The Who)
8. Moby Dick (live) (Led Zeppelin)
9. Singapore (Tom Waits)
10. Artists Only (Talking Heads)

December 31, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. New Years Eve show from behind the drumset. Starting from that show, each night we've played has felt like the last time. Tonight was another, and it may not be, but a last night playing there will come, and soon. I am sick of playing in this group. It's gotten old and boring, hopefully that's not saying something about me! It's not fun anymore, and that's the best reason to stop doing something. Anyway, once I get my citizenship, I'm hoping to spend a month in the U.S., which may be the time to make a clean break with the band.

After tonight's gig, the band leader mentioned things coming up. I tried to come across as uncommitted as possible.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Could We (Cat Power)
2. Andy Warhol (David Bowie)
3. The Employment Pages (Death Cab for Cutie)
4. 2nd of Feb (Engine Down)
5. Glory (Liz Phair)
6. Dewlaps (100 Watt Smile)
7. Stwisted (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
8. Magic Fingers (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
9. Asodaya Yunta (Natsukawa Rimi)
10. Cello Suite No. 2, V. Menuett (J.S. Bach)

June 25, 2008 - Couple of sneaked shots inside the Fine Arts Museum. Pretty institutional. I should've sneaked shots in the galleries. I mean, if you're going to sneak shots where photography is prohibited, then go all-out, you know? None of this trying-to-be-respectful crap!



I'm not doing well with getting a fourth roll shot before the end of the year. Even though I'm only working weekends, I'm still having trouble switching my sleeping hours back to something resembling "normal". I'm also still sleeping a lot more than I'm used to - some lingering cold maybe. I'm not getting out nearly enough or early enough to shoot.

The band suggested taking a break in January and just concentrating on learning new songs. I'm going to come out against the idea. A month of just rehearsal with no gigs/pay sounds excruciating to me. I also don't know when I'll be moving to Kaohsiung, but I'm thinking I definitely will be moving there next year. So it would be better for all parties concerned that they take the break at the same time they find a new drummer. It just makes sense.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. No. 13 Baby (The Pixies)
2. Sanya (Kohachiro Miyata - shakuhachi)
3. 讚仰三寶之歌 (郭孟雍)
4. 真夜中は純潔 (Mayonaka wa Junketsu) (Shiina Ringo)
5. Private Idaho (B-52s)
6. Everything's Just Wonderful (Lily Allen)
7. Too Drunk to Fuck (Dead Kennedys)
8. The King of the Mosh Pit (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
9. Scissor Man (Primus)
10. Symphony No. 4, III. Allegro vivace (Beethoven)

just some random shots

January 2, 2008 - Hackensack, NJ. Red-nosed VW in the parking lot of Target. I'm sure I could have found a better composition for this subject. You can barely see the antlers. Man, do people go nuts for Christmas.


January 4, 2008 - 175th Street station of the New York Subway system. This far north, I think only the "A" train comes to this station. It's where I go to/get off because it's where the George Washington Bridge is. I take a bus to cross the bridge, or sometimes walk. Why am I talking in the present tense?

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Trimmed and Burning (Built to Spill)
2. Vigil (Fish)
3. Pale (Kristin Hersh)
4. Creatures of Love (Talking Heads)
5. Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
6. Imamura Jane (Southern All-Stars)
7. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns 'N Roses)
8. Cracked Actor (David Bowie)
9. Dead End Job (The Police)
10. Trees (live) (Rush)

January 6, 2008 - AIX Bistro on the Upper West Side, New York City. There's a jazz combo playing in this long exposure.

I'm down in Kaohsiung now, where I have legitimate internet and "The Sopranos" on a functioning cable line. Makes me think I'll get TV and internet once I get back to Taipei. It was nice not having them, but let's get real, yo'm sayn? Come on, I missed two episodes of "The Sopranos". That just won't do.

Tomorrow's the Presidential election here. Should be interesting to say the least.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Social Studies (David Byrne - "Music for the 'Knee Plays'")
2. Ain't Nobody Home (B.B. King)
3. Amy's Theme (Martin Denny - ultralounge)
4. The Boy (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Arlington Girl (Shivaree)
6. Ol' 55 (Tom Waits)
7. Freddie Freeloader (Miles Davis)
8. Shatter (Liz Phair)
9. Torch Song (Marillion)
10. The Bewlay Brothers (David Bowie)

西門町

October 31, 2007 - Dunkin' Donuts arrived in Taiwan this year. This is a shiny clean one in Ximending. This is a long exposure, but there really was no one else there. It wasn't even that early, maybe around 11.


Ximending. Actually I think Ximending is behind me, but that building feels like Ximending. This is main intersection of Ximending, so I think all four corners can still be considered Ximending. I wonder how many more times I can type Ximending in this post.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Power (Princess Princess)
2. Isn't It A Pity (Version One) (George Harrison)
3. Dark Disco 1 (The Sugarcubes)
4. The Tennis Song ("City of Angels")
5. You Haven't Done Nothin' (Stevie Wonder)
6. Red Eyes (Throwing Muses)
7. UFO TOFU (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
8. Clubland (Elvis Costello & the Attractions)
9. Sympathy Crime (The Black Heart Procession)
10. Barstool (Deadweight)

LOMO 報告

October 18, 2007 - Taida Language Center classroom. So every day in class someone gave a report in Mandarin on any topic of his or her choice. We took turns. One day I gave a report on lomography, like its history and aesthetics, and I also showed samples, and I also brought in my fisheyes. I even showed them what it looked like to have their picture taken with the fisheye!

None of these people bear mentioning, I didn't get along with any of them particularly. That's not a dis, I'm sure they're all good people. It's just fact, they'd say the same thing I shouldn't wonder.


Sample of multiple exposure mode. While giving the report, I just snapped away on the same frame. I think it confounded them a bit, like "what the hell is he doing?". I get that a lot. From the lights, it looks like 7 shots, and still not enough light collected.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Pass the 40 (Black Sheep)
2. I'm Free (The Who)
3. I Am the Walrus (The Beatles - Anthology)
4. Sen no Yoru to Sen no Hiru (Chitose Hajime)
5. The Tea Party ("Dear World")
6. Bobby and Jackie and Jack ("Merrily We Roll Along" - Sondheim)
7. Hachimitsu (Spitz)
8. Kwaimanumu Bukumaisi Kulegasi 靜靜地你來 (檳榔兄弟 - Taiwanese aboriginal)
9. Roxanne (The Police)
10. Dust In the Wind/Acoustic Guitar solo (live) (Kansas)

interior spaces

September 19, 2007 - 故宮博物院 The National Palace Museum. I swear it rains every time I go there. Well, it kinda rains whenever I do anything in Taipei. Actually the past year hasn't been that bad. It's been a while since I'd been here, and they had done some remodeling which helped put Chinese history into some organized perspective.

My sister-in-law's older sister was in town visiting with some of her Dutch friends (former colonizers, although not directly), so I went with them.


September 20, 2007 - 高鐵 And then the next day I travelled with them down south on the High Speed Rail. They went to Tainan where my sister-in-law's family is based (and where the Dutch primarily colonized, although not these particular Dutch folk), and I went to Kaohsiung. We were thinking of meeting up down there, but it wasn't to be and this was the last I saw of them.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Now Tonight (Sahara Hotnights)
2. Wabogi Wamimi Lagisaimu 在夜裡 (檳榔兄弟 - Taiwanese aboriginal music)
3. Secret Messages (Electric Light Orchestra)
4. I Think I'm a Mother (PJ Harvey)
5. Ao no Requiem (Chitose Hajime)
6. Money ("Cabaret")
7. Take Me Down (Smashing Pumpkins)
8. Check It Out Ch'all (Paris)
9. Dressing the Wound (Peter Gabriel - "Birdy")
10. Oh! (The Breeders)

Porta-A-Squatty!!

Along the riverside bikeways. Squat toilets are still found everywhere in Taiwan. I'm kinda glad I didn't take this in time to be in the commute essay, although it is one of the sights along the way. I don't know what they're called in Mandarin, but it cracks me up how the idea is so easily translatable into English!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Minna no Uta (Southern All-Stars)
2. Underachievers Fight and March Song (Archers of Loaf)
3. Evaporation (Shriekback)
4. Moonchild (Cibo Matto)
5. Tide of Fate (J Church)
6. Precious Things (Tori Amos)
7. King of the Kerb (Echobelly)
8. Gun Street Girl (live) (Tom Waits)
9. Two of Us (The Beatles)
10. Vajracchedika Prajna Paramita Sutra, pts. 13-14 (Imee Ooi)

July 25, 2007 - Yea, right, so what? A building. A department store. But malls and shopping are a New Jersey characteristic. What else do we have? Mullets? Bruce Springsteen? Bon Jovi?!! I make no apologies for shooting this. This Kohl's Department Store is on Route 4 in Paramus.


July 30, 2007 - Garden State Plaza interior, Paramus, N.J., at the intersection of Route 4 and Route 17. Paramus probably has more shopping malls along these stretches of highway than anywhere else in New Jersey. Garden State Plaza is the one that has transformed and grown the most over the years. While I was growing up, it wasn't covered, and walking through it now, I still remember the outdoor thoroughfares in the same locations of the halls here now.

This is a long exposure and there are plenty of people walking through this shot, but since the Lomo Fisheyes don't capture low light levels well, none of them registered. I'm holding the 2 against a railing to keep it steady.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Worse Than Detroit (Robert Plant)
2. Stay Free (The Clash)
3. Live Wire (AC/DC)
4. Tremelo (live) (Mission of Burma)
5. I Can't Do It Alone ("Chicago")
6. Chinsagu no Hana (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
7. Quicksand (David Bowie)
8. Shinshi Raika (Chitose Hajime)
9. Thought I Was (live) (Rainer Maria)
10. D'yer Mak'er (Led Zeppelin)

Three (3) blurry indoor lomos

July 13, 2007 - Taiwan Storyland, a concept museum in Taipei, next door to the Shin Mitsukoshi department store near the Main Station. It's a museum of a period of time, depicting Taipei in the 60's, so the entire space is a recreation of streets and stores and merchandise of the time.


I was with classmates who are fantastic photographers, and there I was with my toy Fisheye 2.


There are more people in this lomo, but they were moving too fast to be captured in long exposure.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Within You, Without You (Instrumental) (The Beatles - Anthology)
2. Rest Of My Life (Rilo Kiley)
3. Where Is My Mind? (The Pixies)
4. Intuition (Leslie Feist)
5. Be My Girl - Sally (The Police)
6. Blind Love (Tom Waits)
7. Nihon Ichi Iikina Love Song (Bakufu Slump)
8. Hey! TAX (The Bubble Gum Brothers)
9. Soul Soldier (Throwing Muses)
10. Mandolinita (Sukay - Andean pan flute)

Taida Main Library

July 10, 2007 - Taida Main Library central atrium, although doesn't an atrium require natural light? Anyway, not to be too critical about the architecture, this is a fantastic waste of prime indoor space. What's the point of this huge space right smack dab in the middle of the library main floor with nothing in it except people walking through? Sofas for a lounge area? Display cases? Piano bar? I vote piano bar.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Boating on Azure Waves (Gong Yi, Luo Shou-Cheng)
2. Till the End of the Day (live) (The Kinks)
3. Dig a Pony (The Beatles)
4. Richard III (Supergrass)
5. Manoir Des Mes Reves (Django Reinhardt)
6. Once I Had a Love (Blondie)
7. Miracles Out of Nowhere (Kansas)
8. Black Little Stray (Shannon Wright)
9. Underground (live) (Tom Waits)
10. Getsumen Butou (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)

新北投 II

June 30, 2007 - Xin Beitou Branch Public Library. It's brand new, opened this year. Very woodsy with a log cabin feel. In case you need to study after soaking in the hot springs.


The branch library even has an outdoor balcony. So if you want to steal books, you can just toss them from the balcony and go down to retrieve them. Just make sure to miss the brook. I read a chapter from a Harry Potter book while I was there. Good writing, but no different from many good books I read when I was a kid. She's no modern day Shakespeare, folks!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. 三天三夜 (A-Mei)
2. Anticipation (Blonde Redhead)
3. In Praise of Women ("A Little Night Music" - Sondheim)
4. Nindaran (Rinken Band)
5. If You Were Gay ("Avenue Q")
6. No Parachutes (Throwing Muses)
7. Rocks in My Bed (Duke Ellington)
8. Tell Me Why (Echobelly)
9. Cheap Day Return (Jethro Tull)
10. The Smartest Monkeys (XTC)

新北投 I

June 23, 2007 - Shuttle MRT to Xin Beitou in northern Taipei. Xin Beitou caters to Japanese tourists wanting to go to the hot springs that the area is famous for. Apparently they are well-known to Japanese tourists because during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945), government administrators developed the area and frequented the hot springs because it reminded them of hot springs in Japan. Or something.

Anyway, now the Japanese tourists are so valuable to the area, they built a shuttle MRT branch line from Beitou station to Xin Beitou station, which is less than a mile long. If the shuttle MRT isn't at the platform at Beitou, I'll usually just leave the station at Beitou station and walk, and I'll often save time.


June 30, 2007 - Xin Beitou, Taipei, Taiwan. I thought the MRT lomo was going to be a one-off odd post, but on the next roll, I found I also went to Xin Beitou the next week. I think this is now a museum in the park there. And I think it has something to do with water, but I've never been inside. I think there's something notable about this red brick architecture and that maybe the Japanese built it. So it may have been some government administration building. *yawn*

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Cosmic Sunshine Baby (French Dub Mix) (Nokko)
2. Breakthru (Queen)
3. Walking On the Moon (The Police)
4. Lowest Common Denominator (Unwound)
5. Mind Power (A Tribe Called Quest)
6. I'm Not Down (The Clash)
7. Euphoria (Delerium)
8. I'm Not a Saint (Echobelly)
9. Thela Hun Ginjeet (King Crimson)
10. Room for the Life (Kate Bush)

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)

Dream Epoch Mall

April 7, 2007 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. One of the atriums of the new Dream Era/Epoch Mall, I forget which is the official translation, they both sound fine and mean basically the same thing. I went to see the architecture and to see what people are investing in these days.

When I was growing up in the Land of Malls (a.k.a., New Jersey), malls were just malls. Commercial outlets run by businessmen who dictated their own whims in terms of design and usage, which usually meant bottom line. Now I feel that if people are putting time, energy, and money into an endeavor, it has to mean something more than the bottom line. They have to think about the environment, public enjoyment, and design and aesthetics.

The Dream E/E Mall was very good architecturally, pretty interesting. But I guess I was being weird, because in the end it's just a mall. I'll have to get more pictures the next time I go down. Which might be this weekend since I was just reminded that it's the 端午節 holiday. I'm too lazy to look up what that translates to, but it's the Dragon Boat Races. It's a little short notice to go down today, or even tonight, but I have to find out how many days we have off next week. If we have both Monday and Tuesday off, I'll probably go.


Ferris Wheel on the roof of the mall.

sometimes weird coincidences come up in shuffle play:
iTunes soundtrack:
1. Spirits In the Material World (live) (The Police)
2. Pull Out the Pin (Kate Bush)
3. Watch That Man (David Bowie)
4. Atom (Echobelly)
5. Risky (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
6. Love Rollercoaster (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
7. Working for the Man (PJ Harvey)
8. Caught a Lite Sneeze (Tori Amos)
9. Pavlov's Bell (Aimee Mann)
10. I'm Not the Man (10,000 Maniacs)

Taipei 101 - interior exterior

March 28, 2007 - So in the previous post, there's a boxy, little structure at the base of the 101 building. This is the inside of it, looking up. Duh. Not so little.


Walkway leading from Taipei 101 to the Vieshow Theaters area and more shopping, if you're into that.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Soma (Smashing Pumpkins)
2. Taka ga Koi ya Ai (Dreams Come True)
3. Kiss Them For Me (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
4. Jet Airliner (The Steve Miller Band)
5. Little Babies (Sleater-Kinney)
6. Easy To Be Hard ("Hair")
7. A Campfire Song (10,000 Maniacs)
8. Blow Wind Blow (Tom Waits)
9. Barcelona ("Company" - Sondheim)
10. You'll Follow Me Down (Skunk Anansie)

黑眼圈

March 23, 2007 - When I hear Chinese people say they can't stand filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang, I . . . have nothing to say. I kind of understand them, he does tend to try the common audience's patience. Like this lomo I took in the theater of his latest release, translated "I Don't Want To Sleep Alone" (which is not a translation of the actual title). This is a long exposure. You can see two subtitled lines and Tsai Ming-Liang films are dialogue sparse, and there are two main characters sitting at a table and they barely move for the duration of the exposure. That's a Tsai Ming-Liang film.

He's not a director that pops up prominently on my radar. In fact, after seeing this film and looking him up, I was surprised to find that I had seen two of his previous films at film festivals in San Francisco. The first film I saw of his was "The Hole", which was totally weird but I quite liked. I think that was the film that made me proclaim that Taiwanese directors are "masters of the long shot", and along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang, I think that's hard to refute.

The other film I've seen is "What Time Is It There?" and I didn't quite understand that film (you mean you understand any of his films?!).

I really liked "I Don't Want To Sleep Alone". I don't think I'd be way off in describing his films as meditations. You have to go into his films with a calm and quiet mind. An open mind also helps. And sometimes a strong cup of coffee.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Cello Suite No. 6, III. Courante (J.S. Bach)
2. The Employment Pages (Death Cab for Cutie)
3. Don't Walk Away (Electric Light Orchestra)
4. Haru No Katami (Hajime Chitose)
5. Dear Prudence (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
6. No Parachutes (Throwing Muses)
7. Seize (Skip Holiday)
8. Is She Really Going Out With Him? (Joe Jackson)
9. Day Dream (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Hoshi no Love Letter (The Boom)