May 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Keelung left bank-Danshui right bank bikeway.

This was shot in May before I discovered the benefits of night riding, which I've been doing most of the Summer. Now, in October, the days are cooling down enough that day rides are possible, i.e., more potential for ride lomos. I guess with the Fisheye 2, it's possible to take night lomos with long exposure, but I think night shots would mostly be a bunch of indistinct flecks of light.

This week I've ridden a total of 95 miles. 54 of those were on a day ride to Jinshan on Taiwan's northeast coast. Day rides being possible doesn't make them more enjoyable than night rides, though. True, I can enjoy scenery; true, I can shoot some lomos; but the choking on motorscooter exhaust fumes on major roads is something that is avoided by night riding. When I ride Route 2 from Danshui to Keelung, it's going to be a night ride.

I went exploring the bike paths along the Dahan River last night. They're not as seamless as Taipei, and they're not paved for smooth riding. They basically laid down concrete for multi-purpose recreational use and pat themselves on the back for supporting cycling, even though they're not really clear on the concept. But the further south I went, the more interesting they got, and they're worth more exploring. I went down as far as Yingge, which is as far as Taipei County goes, then returned on Route 3, getting home at a little after 5 in the morning.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Revenge (live) (Archers of Loaf)
2. She Loves You (The Beatles - Anthology)
3. Wandering Star (Portishead)
4. Holiday Gone Well (The Aislers Set)
5. Hamse Hai Sara Jahan ("Jo Jeeta Woh Sikandar" - Bollywood)
6. Oom-Pah-Pah ("Oliver!")
7. Does He Love You? (Rilo Kiley)
8. Flowers (New Radicals)
9. Vanity (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Lost Ones (Lauryn Hill)

May 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Riverside bikeway along the Keelung River with, I think, Mt. Guanyin across the Danshui River ahead.


The left bank of the Keelung River ends here at the confluence with the Danshui River. They've developed it into a little park, which is nice.

You know, when I first started riding around Taipei after I arrived two and a half years ago, there was room for improvement in the riverside bikeway system. I can't be too critical about it, because such recreational facilities and urban beautification projects are a luxury in many urban settings. But there were problems with access, maintenance, and passage as construction was ongoing.

Two years on, now I want to know where else in the world is there a recreation bikeway system that tops Taipei's. I haven't gone around the world looking for them, I don't know what other cities have them aside from San Francisco and New York, but in my ignorance, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Taipei has one of the world's best recreational bikeways.

Some ridiculously high percentage of Taipei's riversides are now dedicated to recreational use, thanks to the rivers not being commercially viable, of course. The bikeways are extensive, and I do want to measure them one day. Along both banks of all the rivers - some of which I haven't even been on yet, particularly along the Dahan River, I think the mileage may come close to 100 miles.

As development and construction is completed, they are becoming increasingly seamless. Just the other night, at 2 in the morning, I realized I could "time trial" 27 miles from where I live by the Keelung River to where I used to live by my old apartment in Xindian on the Jingmei River. I couldn't time trial it (I just mean prolonged riding at a relatively high pace; over 20 mph is a high cruising speed for me) during the day because there's too many people, but at night, it's more or less a straight shot, albeit with places requiring slowing down.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles)
2. Give Peace a Chance (John Lennon)
3. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (live) (Genesis)
4. Underdogs of Nipomo (Archers of Loaf)
5. In My Body (Smashing Pumpkins)
6. There Goes a Tenner (Kate Bush)
7. Pressure (live) (The Kinks)
8. The Fly (U2)
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (Carole King)
10. La La Love You (The Pixies)

September 7, 2008 - Bad tattoo self-portrait. Makes it clear how hard it is to aim the fisheye. Most of the time it's just random pointing at whereever.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. 40 (live) (U2)
2. Sora Yori Umi Yori (Puri Puri Samba '91) (Princess Princess)
3. Blackout (David Bowie)
4. Who the Cap Fit (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
5. Down Upbeat (Casiopea)
6. Love's Recovery (Indigo Girls)
7. War/No More Trouble (live) (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
8. Hashih ("Hair")
9. If You Had Lived (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
10. More Than This (10,000 Maniacs)

May 11, 2008 - La Mer, back porch, just before we started playing. Those are our "peeps" at the table in front. That's the guitarist on the left, bassist on the right, Andy crouching in front. I don't miss the trek going up to Sanzhi to play, even though it was nice getting out of Taipei and basking in the beach culture that surrounds Taiwan all along its coasts. Really chill vibe. I wouldn't mind living out on the coast somewhere in Taiwan.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Symphony No. 2 "Romantic", III. Allegro con brio (Howard Hanson)
2. Lie Detector (Sleeper)
3. Namida ga Kirari (Spitz)
4. Big Spender ("Sweet Charity" - 1986 revival)
5. Marching Bands of Manhattan (Death Cab for Cutie)
6. King of the Kerb (live) (Echobelly)
7. Fascination (David Bowie)
8. Spirits Having Flown (The Bee Gees)
9. Hard As Love (Marillion)
10. Mr. Zebra (live) (Tori Amos)

July 5, 2008 - This should round up that night, which was in fact just beginning. I won't say anything else about this lomo or that night lest the wrong information is found out about the wrong people who misinterpret or are unable to interpret things in the proper light, regarding any number of possible topics.

Which is, I suppose, an odd thing to be concerned about considering the intentional misleading nature of the previous posts.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Union Square (Tom Waits)
2. Flute Concerto in G Major (Vivaldi)
3. I Me Mine (The Beatles - Anthology)
4. I Would Hurt A Fly (live) (Built to Spill)
5. Walking Through the Darkness (Tekitha - "Ghost Dog")
6. Not for the Life of Me (reprise) ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
7. Reviewing the Situation ("Oliver!")
8. Future Legend/Diamond Dogs (David Bowie)
9. New York State of Mind (Billy Joel)
10. Baby I Love Your Way (Big Mountain)

July 5, 2008 - OK, so Alex was friendly with everyone that night. Here, she has a thing with Nina. My god, Nina has a better chance than I do! (this is all a joke, mind you, just seeing if Andy comes here, but I think he doesn't. he didn't punch my lights out at our gig last night).

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Kimi to Iru Jikan no Naka de (Ayaka Hirahara)
2. Raise the Roof (Public Enemy)
3. Soul Daiji (Bubble Gum Brothers)
4. Maggie's Farm (Bob Dylan)
5. It's a Hard-Knock Life ("Annie")
6. Faithful (Pearl Jam)
7. Toast (Archers of Loaf)
8. Natural Animal (Echobelly)
9. Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover (live) (Simon & Garfunkel)
10. You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) (Meat Loaf)

July 5, 2008 - I'm gonna steal his girlfriend! Let's see if Andy, the band's singer, is really coming to this blog. See? His girlfriend's all over me at this birthday celebration of hers' near the peak of my insomnia days. Note the look on my face, though: "Git yer hands offa me, woman, ya tryn'a get me lynched?"


Besides (that's Andy standing), look at all the fly ladies he's always surrounded with! Well, maybe not the ugly guy in the middle, but look how adoringly the woman on the right is gazing at him.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Long As I'm Here With You ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
2. Tres (Pinback)
3. Sunday (Helium)
4. Passing Strangers (Marillion)
5. My Life (Billy Joel)
6. By the Way (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
7. Ghost World (acoustic) (Aimee Mann)
8. Papillon (Rilo Kiley)
9. Army Dreamers (Kate Bush)
10. Magic Bus (live) (The Who)

May 11, 2008 - Sanzhi, Taiwan north coast. With time before playing, we could walk out on the beach and relax. That's Alex and Nikki walking back along the jetty. Or is it a quay? Or a breakwater? Who knows. Alex is the band's singer's girlfriend. He recently found this blog, so now he knows that I'm out to steal his girlfriend. They're also moving next month to a place with extra rooms, so they asked me if I wanted to move in with them. Naturally, that'll make it much easier for me to put my moves on, little does he know.


As they walked back, I continued walking out. It's farther than it looks.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Walk Through the Fire (Peter Gabriel)
2. I'm Looking Through You (The Beatles)
3. Below the Salt (Unwound)
4. Wandering in the Street (Blackhand Nakasi Workers Band)
5. Babe (Styx)
6. Two Is Enough (Seam)
7. Yassassin (David Bowie)
8. The Goldberg Variations, #26 (J.S. Bach)
9. Toki ga Bousou Suru (Shiina Ringo)
10. When I'm Sixty-Four (The Beatles)

May 11, 2008 - Sanzhi, on the north coast of Taiwan. The band used to play up there couple times a month at a restaurant/cafe called La Mer. We played on the back porch, just steps away from the beach. Not bad, eh? It was just far from Taipei and a pain to get to. We stopped playing up there after we got our own place to play in Taipei. And since the person who booked us was . . . well, murdered.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. OSCA (Tokyo Jihen)
2. Ein Deutsches Requiem, V. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (Brahms)
3. Rude Mood (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
4. Deep Wilson (Kristin Hersh)
5. Israel (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
6. We Know Better (Echobelly)
7. Egypt (Kate Bush)
8. Kougousei (Shiina Ringo)
9. The Way Things Go (The Octopus Project)
10. Go Fun Burn Man (live) (Mission of Burma)

May 9, 2008 - Bend in the Keelung River, Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. This is about half a mile from where I live. It's a pretty nice riverside area. We just had a typhoon blow through, and they closed all the floodgates, but the river is quite large and although the river level noticeably rose, there was no sign of damage, like on the Xindian or Jingmei rivers in last year's big typhoon.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Falling Down (Tom Waits)
2. Neon Lights (Sahara Hotnights)
3. Perfect Time (Archers of Loaf)
4. Fool In the Rain (Led Zeppelin)
5. Melody (Sakura)
6. Coming Up (Paul McCartney)
7. Without Fire (764-HERO)
8. Far East Medley (live) (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
9. Growing Up (Peter Gabriel)
10. Gut Pageant (Kristin Hersh)

May 9, 2008 - Nanjing East Road, Section 5; one of the major east-west boulevards going across Taipei. They're building an MRT line under it, which is that construction going on in the middle of the road. I'm not making any predictions, but I can't imagine still living here by the time they complete it. Which is like. . . 5 years from now.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Grasshoppers (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
2. Pull Up the Roots (Talking Heads)
3. Who Do You Dance For? (Sahara Hotnights)
4. Try to Remember (reprise) ("The Fantasticks")
5. December (Unwound)
6. A Sword and a Rose and a Cape ("Carnival")
7. Home (Kristin Hersh)
8. Black Country Woman (Led Zeppelin)
9. Five O'Clock Whistle (Duke Ellington)
10. Whatever (Ani DiFranco)

April 18, 2008 - Bike parking next to the Taida library. Bike parking is never an issue on campus, unless you try to park close to where you want to go. That's a general rule. Then you're either jamming someone else's bike in, or they're jamming in yours, and good luck trying to get your bike out. I think I avoided going to the library when I knew it would be crowded, so I never had a problem. Also because the library doesn't have enough seating, and it's hard to find a seat during peak hours. This is Taiwan's best university, mind you.

I had started working in April, but I still had a valid Taida ID until the end of June (the person stamping my ID a semester earlier made a mistake), so I still went down there on occasion.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. I'm Only Sleeping (take 1) (The Beatles - Anthology)
2. Yeah! Nen Matsu (Bakufu Slump)
3. Mystic Rhythms (live) (Rush)
4. Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (Stevie Wonder)
5. Itoshi no Happy Days (Dreams Come True)
6. Do You Think It's Alright? (The Who)
7. Black and White ("Barnum")
8. Knuckle Down (XTC)
9. Goodbye Caroline (Aimee Mann)
10. Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus 10 (J.S. Bach)

April 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Songshan District. Above ground trains run out of eastern Taipei from Songshan train station, serving eastern Taiwan. West of Taipei, they emerge from underground in Taipei County.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, I. Allegro (J.S. Bach)
2. What Am I Here For? (Duke Ellington)
3. People (King Crimson)
4. Syeeda's Flute Song (John Coltrane)
5. Argument (Fugazi)
6. Whatall Is Nice (Ani DiFranco)
7. Hi Fu Mi Hachi Kaeshi (Katsuya Yokoyama - shakuhachi)
8. Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
9. One (Sakura)
10. The Bed ("Hair")

April 12, 2008 - Wow, this is the next consecutive frame from the previous post. A whole month between shots. That's so sad. And I didn't even start work until the beginning of April. What was I even doing then? I'm still working on the second roll of this year. That's even sadder. I didn't even stop sleeping until the end of May.

East side of the Raohe Night Market street in Songshan District, where there's an apparently popular Taoist temple.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Drain You (Nevermind)
2. La Guerre Est Finie (Pizzicato Five)
3. The Goldberg Variations, #17 (J.S. Bach)
4. Democratic Circus (Talking Heads)
5. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (Take 7) (The Beatles - Anthology)
6. Panama (Van Halen)
7. Morning Sprite (Chick Corea Akoustic Band)
8. Caught A Lite Sneeze (Tori Amos)
9. Harbor Wind (Keiko Matsui)
10. Woman (John Lennon)

March 12, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Aiguo West Road near Xiaonanmen. "Nanmen" meaning "south gate", this was probably originally part of the south wall fortification surrounding the original Taipei City, which was no more than the current western part of Zhongzheng District and a little north of Taipei Main Station. It's hard to imagine Taipei a hundred years ago.

This shot didn't work. I was trying to get that busted up motor scooter that get left by the gate. The gate is on an island in the middle of the road, with a roundabout going around it.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. You're My Best Friend (Queen)
2. Anata Dake o - Summer Heartbreak - (Southern All-Stars)
3. Paquita (Tabu Ley & Africando)
4. Mothership Connection (Star Child) (Parliament Funkadelic)
5. Long Painting (50 Foot Wave)
6. Stop Your Sobbing (The Pretenders)
7. Five O'Clock Drag (Duke Ellington)
8. Stone the Crows ("Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat")
9. Pencil Rain (They Might Be Giants)
10. Ugly (Smashing Pumpkins)

March 9, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan. Nanjing East Road near the Guangfu North Road intersection. This is my new neighborhood after I moved in the beginning of March. I had been in this area before, albeit rarely, on rides. Needless to say, I never thought I would one day live here.

I had also been here once before to a music venue called "The Living Room", which is across the street directly to the left off this shot. I heard that it was closing soon after I moved here, which peeved me (just my luck), but I think the place has been picked up by new management and will continue having live music.

They're building an MRT (subway) line under Nanjing East Road, and this is a fenced off construciton area. The fencing and traffic lanes are constantly changing to accomodate construction. It makes for hairy riding, so I avoid riding my bike on this road. The line is scheduled for completion in, like, 2013, by which time I certainly hope to be back in the U.S.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Shoot Him (The Sugarcubes)
2. Home Sweet Home (Peter Gabriel)
3. New Jersey (100 Watt Smile)
4. Bitter Memories (Bakufu Slump)
5. Schizophrenia's Weighted Me Down (Cat Power)
6. Beneath, Between and Behind (live) (Rush)
7. The Roof is Leaking (Phil Collins)
8. Every Ghetto Every City (Lauryn Hill)
9. Shulaba La Bamba (Southern All-Stars)
10. No One Has Ever Loved Me ("Passion" - Sondheim)

February 10, 2008 - This is so long ago, it's distant in my memory. It was a Lunar New Year family outing, but it was distant family to me, so it's all appropriate - my cousin's wife's family, and I got invited along because I happened to run into my cousin's wife on the street the day before.

That mound is a stone oven we built. This is a family activity that's more for kids, so it was dirty and interesting. It developed from a real kids' activity in Taiwan a long time ago. Some in the older generation remember making these ovens in the neighborhood and barbecuing food. Now it's organized in these special parks that provide the oven base, there are rocks that need to be collected to build the oven, and the park provides the food, too, as part of the fee.


I forget exactly where the park was, about a 25 minute drive out of Kaohsiung, towards Tainan, I think. These are my cousin's wife's family members, they were very nice and I had fun there.


Later in the day after the fires died down and the food got eaten - not very good cooked that way, but the point of the activity was to have fun with the kids, not to feast on good food necessarily, so it was still successful. And with kids, playing in the dirt becomes primo.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Here We Go! (J-Walk)
2. Loved Despite Great Faults (Blonde Redhead)
3. Give a Little Love (Rilo Kiley)
4. Clones (We're All) (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Uptight (Everything's Alright) (Stevie Wonder)
6. Message to Prez (The Maupin/Williams Project)
7. Offline PK (live-ish) (Pinback)
8. One Flower (Guo Brothers & Shung Tian)
9. Colored Spade ("Hair")
10. Not A Day Goes By ("Merrily We Roll Along" - Sondheim)

Visit down south

February 6, 2008 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Grandparents' gravesite. I know I've shot this many times already, but just documenting going there again. I asked my cousin what it said, and he wasn't really sure. Apparently what gets written on gravesites is a complicated matter.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Sickfile (Archers of Loaf)
2. Chikai (Ayaka Hirahara)
3. The Other Way of Stopping (The Police)
4. It's a Hit (Rilo Kiley)
5. Pink India (Stephen Malkmus)
6. Into the Heart (U2)
7. Rumpofsteelskin (Parliament Funkadelic)
8. I Can't Escape From You (The The)
9. I Gotta Move (The Kinks)
10. 查某人 (林強)

February 4, 2008 - Starbucks, across Roosevelt Road from the Taida campus in Gongguan. Long exposure as the light was fading. So long ago. Back then I had already decided to move from Xindian City to Songshan District. I probably had decided at that point that I wasn't going to enroll for another semester of language classes, and would dedicate myself to self-study, which is what I was probably doing at Starbucks.

Back then, I could still drink coffee. Insomnia has killed my coffee drinking. Back then rehearsals had probably just started with the band. We didn't know half a year later we'd have a weekly gig at the bass player's new live bar/restaurant. Back then I had no idea I'd be working. I wonder what I'd do different back then if I knew where I'd be now. Not sleeping, that is. So much for the Zen adage: "When hungry, eat; when tired, sleep". But what if you have insomnia? Shut up, kid.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Natsu no Utage (Chitose Hajime)
2. Untouchable Face (Ani DiFranco)
3. It Ain't Easy (David Bowie)
4. In Every Corner (Julie Plug)
5. On Mercury (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
6. Jhumra (Himalayan instrumental music)
7. Sweet Thing (live) (David Bowie)
8. (You Made Me) (The Thief of Your Heart) (Sinead O'Connor)
9. That's All (live) (Genesis)
10. Mexican Seafood (Nirvana)

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)

Boring nothing shot

June 25, 2008 - Taipei, Taiwan, Minzu E. Road and Xinsheng N. Road, Sec. 3, with the Xinsheng Expressway overhead, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the Xinsheng canal. Canals aren't anything in Taipei, unlike Bangkok where they are extensive and used for transportation. Here they're dank and smelly, basically uncovered sewage lines leading to the rivers.

So now I'm on a new roll, a roll that took almost half a year to shoot. Uninspired, unmotivated, insomnial, and working. To emphasize it all, this kind of shot is what I fear is the best I can do. Boring shot of basically nothing. It's not without merit, but lord it ain't a good shot. Fortunately, it's among the worst on the roll. Meaning others are better. Maybe. I hope.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
2. Gone (U2)
3. Hear My Heart (Edith Frost)
4. Adam and Eve (live) (Ani DiFranco)
5. The Lamia (live) (Genesis)
6. I Will Catch U (Nokko)
7. Symphony No. 41, III. Menuetto (Allegretto) (Mozart)
8. The Angels Hung Around (Rilo Kiley)
9. Oh! Darling (The Beatles)
10. Here Come the Bastards (Primus)

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)

more Edgewater

January 10, 2008 - Probably around the same area as the previous post, but a couple days later, meaning I was probably down there watching movies. I remember "Sweeney Todd" came out about then. I forget what else I saw. I'm looking forward to the new "Batman". My co-worker already saw it to review it for the paper, although I didn't think we did movie reviews in house, we usually pull them from a U.S. wire. He said it was really good, mind-alteringly good. He said I'd really like it. It opens here a day earlier than in the U.S.. Strange.


Garbage can in the Hudson River, with the New York skyline bending with the horizon.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac)
2. Two Soldiers (David Byrne - "The Catherine Wheel")
3. Aeroflot (20 Minute Loop)
4. Koufukuron (Shiina Ringo)
5. Sweet Depression (Deadweight)
6. Macavity ("Cats")
7. Letter to a John/Tamburitza Lingua (live) (Ani DiFranco)
8. Bang! Bang! (Le Tigre)
9. Lazy (Suede)
10. I'll Be Back (demo) (The Beatles - Anthology)

Series shots

(1)

January 8, 2008 - Edgewater, NJ. Hudson River at sunset. New York City across the river.

(2)

A little further down the "pier".

(3)

Wake ripples, after a boat sailed past.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. The Difference Between Love and Hell (Sahara Hotnights)
2. Like a Lady (The Sounds)
3. Rock Me Now (Metric)
4. Assassing (live) (Marillion)
5. Hey Bulldog (The Beatles)
6. In the Rapids (live) (Genesis)
7. The Stars are Projectors (Modest Mouse)
8. Cello Suite No. 1, VI - Gigue (J.S. Bach - Yo-Yo Ma)
9. Say Hello to the World (Makihara Noriyuki)
10. Arabian Knights (Siouxsie & the Banshees)

Oh, and all Shiina Ringo muxtape. I think I'll upload a new muxtape every month or so. Wondering how that site will develop.

December 31, 2007 - Philadelphia church, same old theme, leaving Philly on New Year's Eve, car shot on the drive back to New Jersey below, blah blah blah, god, I gotta move on. Although you gotta admit that was pretty good light that day.

Well, I finally got a new roll developed today. I can't believe it took me half a year to finish a roll, that is seriously uninspired. So I'll blast through the rest of this roll and hope there's something worthy on the new roll.


This is probably still in Philly or in New Jersey before the Turnpike. It all looks the same.

I've had insomnia for a month, getting worse and worse. Now I'm either gonna cure it or accept it. I guess something's gotta change. It's weird. I'm not stressed, I don't have anything on my mind, I just can't sleep for more than 3 hours. But I did have this problem when I was working in San Francisco, so maybe the problem is work!

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Risky (Ryuichi Sakamoto)
2. Ripple (The Grateful Dead)
3. Not for the Life of Me ("Thoroughly Modern Millie")
4. I Never (Rilo Kiley)
5. Night On the Sun (Modest Mouse)
6. Driven to Tears (live) (The Police)
7. Fly on a Windshield (Genesis)
8. Other Side of the World (KT Tunstall)
9. Hey Ladies (The Beastie Boys)
10. El Flaco Funk (John Pena)

December 31, 2007 - Daytime tunnel. Car shots, train platform shots, it looks like some serious typography on this last roll of developed lomo shots I have. But it wasn't intentional. Ah, unintended typography, the final bastion for the uninspired. Along with photo essays.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna subject anyone to another photo essay, especially myself. I think this shot was right after crossing into New Jersey from Pennsylvania on route. . . whatever, I don't remember. I'm almost done finishing the one roll I've been working on since this roll. It's bound to be disappointing or pleasantly surprising.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zeppelin)
2. Your Dirty Answer (Kristin Hirsch)
3. Ionizes & Atomizes (Modest Mouse)
4. Soul to Squeeze (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
5. White Sun (Takeshi Yamaguchi)
6. Blister in the Sun (Violent Femmes)
7. Obscured (Smashing Pumpkins)
8. I Don't Want U (Blonde Redhead)
9. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Van Halen)
10. Believo! (Enon)

December 31, 2007 - Leaving Philadelphia on New Year's Eve. Urban skylines. Winter blue skies. Contrast to the sub-tropical Taipei drear, but it's all wonderful. What a great planet we have. Hope we can take care of it.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Symphony No. 8, II. Tempo di menuetto (Beethoven)
2. Five to One (The Doors)
3. Thinking of No One But Me ("My and My Girl")
4. Bodies (Smashing Pumpkins)
5. Sin in My Heart (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
6. Kathy's Waltz (The Dave Brubeck Quartet)
7. Listen to What the Man Said (Wings)
8. Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
9. Disarm (live, English TV 1993) (Smashing Pumpkins)
10. Them Heavy People (Kate Bush)

December 20, 2007 - 42nd Street station, 8th Avenue line, New York City. I take the "A" train in New York. But not because I'm going to Harlem, which is what I assume is the significance in the Duke Ellington song, but because I come from much lamer New Jersey. My, but this lomo makes New York subways look clean. They're not.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. And God Created Whales (Hovhaness)
2. You're Gonna Get Yours (Public Enemy)
3. Melt the Guns (XTC)
4. Driver 8 (R.E.M.)
5. Story from a Thin Wall (Marillion)
6. Raga Parmeshwari (Ravi Shankar & Ustad Alla Rakha)
7. Desafinado (George Michael & Astrud Gilberto)
8. Room for the Life (Kate Bush)
9. Indoor Fireworks (The Costello Show feat. the Attractions)
10. Only Us (Peter Gabriel)

Not sure how to blow the dust off this blog. I went to my Lomo 2008 folder to continue posting, and there was nothing there. The latest roll was in the 2007 folder. I haven't finished a single roll in 2008! A sure sign something needs to change and be shooken up.


December 4, 2007 - MRT station, either Shilin or Jiantan on the red line.

I think it might be safe to come back here. There was a family breach of this blog, but I haven't seen any return since then. Not that I've been shooting any.

December 31, 2007 - Sunny, New Years Eve morning, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Victoria (live) (The Kinks)
2. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Pink Floyd)
3. Dumbells (live) (Mission of Burma)
4. Love Love Love (Dreams Come True)
5. Custom Concern (Modest Mouse)
6. Where Am I Going? ("Sweet Charity" 1986)
7. Tremor Christ (Pearl Jam)
8. Pump (The Sugarcubes)
9. Burnin' Love (Sing Like Talking)
10. The Power of Crappy Music (A-Mei)

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)

January 8, 2008 - Edgewater, New Jersey. This must have been a dock on the Hudson River, across from New York City. Now apartments and condos and a multi-plex behind me.

I still don't have internet at home. I'm posting from a bagel shop that under Taipei Main Station that happens to get someone's wireless. Too bad this isn't near where I live. I still have to look for a place near where I live that gets free internet.

I totally love my new place and the neighborhood. I can't believe I had qualms about moving, everything is so much better, even the slightly longer distances to every where. At least there are places to go now. Here's a pic of my new place. It's a photostitch panorama, a nifty feature of my new Canon SD870 (I think, I mostly know it by its Asian model number).

I'm going to Kaohsiung next Friday for a few days. I should have internet down there for those few days. And I might crack any day now and have internet installed.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Who Needs Information? (Roger Waters)
2. Samukhela (Eyuphuro)
3. Goodbye Caroline (Aimee Mann)
4. Guhyasamaja Tantra, Chapter II (Monks of the Gyuto Monastery)
5. Straight (Deadweight)
6. Museum Song ("Barnum")
7. Who the Cap Fit (Bob Marley & the Wailers)
8. 真實 (A-Mei)
9. I Want Your (Hands On Me) (Sinead O'Connor)
10. People (King Crimson)

No internet at my new place. It may be a while before I'm uploading again. Either I have to find a cafe with free WiFi nearby, or I have to get internet installed. As if a sign from God, I read an article today (in Chinese!) that ADSL prices are dropping on April 1st. Too many people complaining that it is too expensive.

But I have to say that I'm really enjoying not having internet distracting and polluting my atmosphere. Maybe "enjoying" is too strong of a word.

December 9, 2007 - Central Taiwan. A resort constructed to be reminiscent of Europe.

I'm still not shooting anything new. I think I'm bored, but fortunately I'm moving on Sunday. So hopefully my new environment will have me shooting again. I wasn't planning on moving again until I left Taipei, but my cousin's aunt had a place I could move into. The pros and cons of the new place and my current place balance out, which should mean staying put, according to the laws of entropy, but I guess it's time for a change. Somethings always have to change. Or not.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Fire on Babylon (Sinead O'Conner)
2. Indian Summer Sky (U2)
3. So Serious (Electric Light Orchestra)
4. San Juan (Sukay - Andean pan flute)
5. I Saw the Light (The The)
6. Hoshi no Umareru Hi (Cocco)
7. Typical Situation (Dave Matthews Band)
8. Time (Rebecca)
9. Animals (Talking Heads)
10. C'mon Billy (PJ Harvey)

DWL

January 10, 2008 - Driving While Lomographing. River Road, Edgewater, New Jersey.

We actually had a sunny day in Taipei, and I still didn't make any headway on the roll that's currently in the 2.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Expresso Love (Dire Straits)
2. Funky Monks (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
3. Blow Wind Blow (Tom Waits)
4. Sora Yori Umi Yori (Puri Puri Samba '91) (Princess Princess)
5. Rider on the Stormy Sea (Mary Timony)
6. Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio No. 2, VI. Affectueuse (Claude Bolling/Jean-Pierre Rampal)
7. Let the Loser Melt (live) (Archers of Loaf)
8. Pick It Up, Lay It In the Cut (Sharon Jones & the Dapp Kings)
9. Rock and Roll With Me (David Bowie)
10. Time Stand Still (live) (Rush)

shadows and tall trees

December 31, 2007 - Philadelphia, PA. Random posts of random lomos. Furthermore I'm not shooting anything new. I might run out of shots to post, but actually I think I have a roll of black and white from last year that I never posted here.

I visited my brother, arriving the day before, and thought he had New Years Eve off, but alas he had to work so I didn't get to spend time with him before I headed back to New Jersey. I walked a bit around his neighborhood before taking off. I saw this shot as I walked up to it, and knew I was going to have a problem with the sun behind me, so, well, that's my shadow at the bottom of the tree. I stood behind the tree and wrapped my arms around the tree and shot, trying to be inconspicuous.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Call Me (Throwing Muses)
2. Milk It (Nirvana)
3. Mending King (Three Mile Pilot)
4. Tag Team (Noriyuki Makihara)
5. (Meet) The Flintstones (Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
6. Candle (Matisyahu)
7. Lola (live) (The Kinks)
8. Everybody's Got the Right ("Assassins" - Sondheim)
9. Another Nail in My Heart (Squeeze)
10. I Know a Girl ("Chicago")

December 20, 2007 - Bryant Park skating rink, New York City. It feels like about this cold in Taipei now, but really it's only 56 degrees. Inside! I'm pretty sure this is unusually cold in Taipei, even for Winter, and it's as cold as I've felt here. At the store today I saw a lot of people buying ceramic space heaters. I was buying Scotch. Someone left a space heater in my apartment, so I have one, but I already have a dehumidifier running most of the time to keep the ceiling from dripping. I only want to imagine what a space heater would do to my utility bill.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Funky Li'l Party (Paris)
2. Face On Your Head (100 Watt Smile)
3. What's Ya Take On Cassavettes (Le Tigre)
4. Koi wa I MY ME MINE (Bubble Gum Brothers)
5. Three Hopeful Thoughts (Rilo Kiley)
6. Flying Saucer Dudes (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)
7. D.J. (David Bowie)
8. Jet Airliner (Paul Pena)
9. Kiseki no Wedding March (Blow Up Mix) (Nokko)
10. The Sinister Minister (live) (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones)

December 7, 2007 - More of the sheep farm in the mountains of central Taiwan. Not bad.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. If Only We Could (Shannon Wright)
2. Live During Wartime (live) (Talking Heads)
3. Why I Stay (The Black Heart Procession)
4. Message in a Bottle (live) (The Police)
5. The Cold Part (Modest Mouse)
6. All Things Must Pass (The Beatles - Anthology)
7. Coming Up (Ani DiFranco)
8. Ghost of a Dog (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
9. Earn Enough For Us (XTC)
10. West Coast Blues (Wes Montgomery)

November 7, 2007 - Thar be sheep in Taiwan. I think some Australian guy brought these sheep to the mountains of central Taiwan. I guess his passion is sheep. And Taiwanese girls since I think his wife is Taiwanese. Anyway, it's a sheep farm for tourists. Tricky creatures these, I had to sneak up with the 2 and snap this quick or else who knows what he would've done. I wasn't about to hand him my shakuhachi, either.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Holloway Jail (The Kinks)
2. Star (live) (David Bowie)
3. Who Is It? (Talking Heads)
4. Warszawa (David Bowie)
5. PDA (Interpol)
6. Sista Sista (Sakura)
7. Soon Forget (Pearl Jam)
8. Misty Mountain Hop (Led Zeppelin)
9. Man in a Suitcase (live) (The Police)
10. Jackie (Sinead O'Connor)

澳萬大

December 8, 2007 - Aowanda, Taiwan. I think it's a national park in central Taiwan. It was kinda like a mini-Yosemite. No mini-Half Dome, but they did have this mini-Yosemite Falls, and the park was in what looked like a mini-Yosemite Valley. And then later in the day we went to Taiwan's most famous lake, Sun Moon Lake, and that felt like a mini-Tahoe. So, like, Taiwan is a mini-California. I was afraid of looking in the mirror and seeing a mini-me.


long exposures sometimes get funky results.

iTunes soundtrack:
1. Astronaut (Versus)
2. Heroes in June (Echobelly)
3. 2nd of Feb (Engine Down)
4. Where Have All the Good Times Gone (The Kinks)
5. Yacht Dance (XTC)
6. Lollipop (Judy and Mary)
7. Steam [Oh, Oh, Let Off Steam 12" Mix] (Peter Gabriel)
8. Let It Loose (The Rolling Stones)
9. Stay (David Bowie)
10. Icarus (Borne On Wings of Steel) (Kansas)