I posted a link to Les' Atash video some months ago... Here's a link to their site with some mp3s available for your listening pleasure...
Let's look at that video again... shot at John Kuhels' in-laws' place out in the country of either Nantou or Tainan... I love this song...
Thursday, August 31, 2006
My Space Downloads...
If you've never seen or heard of these bands get a taste at My Space...
Point 22 or simply .22 have 4 songs available... "Pass It On", "Gun", "Peter and Jane" and "Up for It".... these guys are my favorite Taiwan band...
Here's a link to 3 Rocketgirl tunes...
I've never heard anyone do quite what Charlie Taylor does...
The Deported have a couple of songs up too... I'll re-post the canal video re-edited for Halloween...
The Daymakers are a twin fronted trio singing catchy pop songs in chinese though I met these guys at Spring Scream a couple of years ago and they said The Daymakers were now done...they were staying together but under a different name. Anyone know anything about their new incarnation? I've used their songs as translation exercises in my high school classes and we used "Yi Jian Zhong Qing"/"Love at first sight" as our wedding video song...
Point 22 or simply .22 have 4 songs available... "Pass It On", "Gun", "Peter and Jane" and "Up for It".... these guys are my favorite Taiwan band...
Here's a link to 3 Rocketgirl tunes...
I've never heard anyone do quite what Charlie Taylor does...
The Deported have a couple of songs up too... I'll re-post the canal video re-edited for Halloween...
The Daymakers are a twin fronted trio singing catchy pop songs in chinese though I met these guys at Spring Scream a couple of years ago and they said The Daymakers were now done...they were staying together but under a different name. Anyone know anything about their new incarnation? I've used their songs as translation exercises in my high school classes and we used "Yi Jian Zhong Qing"/"Love at first sight" as our wedding video song...
Taipei Zoo
It's 60 NT to get in, kids under 6 for free. If you're going on a Monday be warned that most of the indoor areas, that is to say, cool cool air conditioned areas are closed to the public. This we did not know.
This kind of messed with our grand plan of keeping the kids - both under two - from overheating 'cause it was scorchin' like August in Taiwan scorchin'. Cookin'. This, as far as I can figure, is not on the website and I saw no sign posted at the gate.
When we asked about it, to several people over the course of the day, the most common response we got was, "Yes, Inside closed on Mondays. Everybody knows that." How's that? Everybody? Yes, your friends should tell you this... ahhh forget it...
The nocturnal animal house was open and air conditioned so we spent an hour or more taking Ivo and Kaia around to see what they had to offer. Owls, a civet, lemurs, racoons, porcupines, lots of cats, a boa constrictor, two tree sloths, lots of fish, some electric eels, knife fish and on and on... by 2 the kids were sleeping so we left before we got to everything. There's a train that takes people around the park too... maybe next time. I'd go again but never in August...
This kind of messed with our grand plan of keeping the kids - both under two - from overheating 'cause it was scorchin' like August in Taiwan scorchin'. Cookin'. This, as far as I can figure, is not on the website and I saw no sign posted at the gate.
When we asked about it, to several people over the course of the day, the most common response we got was, "Yes, Inside closed on Mondays. Everybody knows that." How's that? Everybody? Yes, your friends should tell you this... ahhh forget it...
The nocturnal animal house was open and air conditioned so we spent an hour or more taking Ivo and Kaia around to see what they had to offer. Owls, a civet, lemurs, racoons, porcupines, lots of cats, a boa constrictor, two tree sloths, lots of fish, some electric eels, knife fish and on and on... by 2 the kids were sleeping so we left before we got to everything. There's a train that takes people around the park too... maybe next time. I'd go again but never in August...
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Things I love about Taiwan...
I love the early morning here. On weekends it's best. From dawn til about 8 A.M. It's the quietest time of day. I'm lucky in that my neighbourhood is almost completely residential. The calm before the torrent of activity that defines the movement of humans about CENTRAL CITY makes me happy... with coffee of course. You gotta have coffee...
TUNGURAHUA
Here's a short clip of TUNGURAHUA erupting in Ecuador on August 16th 2006 spewing smoke and fire. Not the best volcano video I've ever seen but DAMN recent! The first part of the clip is at night, the second some daytime shots...
more on volcanoes
I've been kind of half paying attention to the progress of MAYON VOLCANO in the Philippines due to its proximity to us here in Taiwan. I remember some years ago when I was living in Changhua City, just south of here, we suffered through a couple of weeks of intense smoke pollution from the burning of fields and forests in Indonesia... I guess the winds have spared us in more recent years. Volcanic ash could also drift its way here I'm sure...
For more on current volcanic activity check out VOLCANO WORLD.
I can remember moving to Taiwan and asking about volcanic activity on the island and being assured that yes, though Taiwan is a part of the RING OF FIRE, all its' volcanoes are either extinct or massively dormant and I shouldn't worry so much... I wasn't really worried about them, only interested in possibly seeing a lava flow or something... It seems that was not entirely true as I've learned this morning about the Da Tun volcano group just north of Taipei city, some being active though not since the Pleistocene era... Also there's another group of 5 small volcanic islands off the North-East coast called Kuei Shan Tao...
There are also several unnamed submarine volcanoes, mostly located off the East coast... here's the list...
I've been looking for a decent volcano video on youtube...
For more on current volcanic activity check out VOLCANO WORLD.
I can remember moving to Taiwan and asking about volcanic activity on the island and being assured that yes, though Taiwan is a part of the RING OF FIRE, all its' volcanoes are either extinct or massively dormant and I shouldn't worry so much... I wasn't really worried about them, only interested in possibly seeing a lava flow or something... It seems that was not entirely true as I've learned this morning about the Da Tun volcano group just north of Taipei city, some being active though not since the Pleistocene era... Also there's another group of 5 small volcanic islands off the North-East coast called Kuei Shan Tao...
There are also several unnamed submarine volcanoes, mostly located off the East coast... here's the list...
I've been looking for a decent volcano video on youtube...
Thursday, August 24, 2006
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS...
is the longest word in the English language and coincidentally is also the disease you get if you are unlucky enough to inhale finely particulate volcanic ash...
I attended a teacher's workshop on Monday after regular classes and this is how the guy started his presentation. He asked us what we thought the longest word was in the English language. I said SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS... he said WRONG that's not really a word it just comes from a movie...
A co-worker said ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM which rang in at # 3...
Number two? FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION... Meaning? MEANINGLESS in a nutshell... it's all meaningless....
I attended a teacher's workshop on Monday after regular classes and this is how the guy started his presentation. He asked us what we thought the longest word was in the English language. I said SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS... he said WRONG that's not really a word it just comes from a movie...
A co-worker said ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM which rang in at # 3...
Number two? FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION... Meaning? MEANINGLESS in a nutshell... it's all meaningless....
Supervolcanoes
For the first time in my life I'm actually paying for cable TV. I've had it before but it was always there in that new apartment we moved into already hooked up and ... well... Who wouldn't take free cable? Right? Now you know how soft my moral underbelly really is, neh?
The last time this was the case was 2001 when we watched the trade towers come down live from NYC and in October of that year the Yanks lost the World Series to the D-Backs... Then the juice was shut off...darkness all around...the flicker of the set silenced... that's ok.... I don't need TV... it's all shit anyway... there's nothing on day to day I absolutely must see...
You end up taking pride in the fact that you don't watch TV. Like this somehow makes one appear smarter and more in touch with the more scholarly pursuits of reading and playing computer baseball... You say to your students, "Sorry, I don't watch TV. Just DVDs... No, I don't know that funny commercial you're talking about. Yeah, no, I missed the brawl in Legislative Yuan..." And I didn't miss it. Really. At all.
Enter the Sandstress. Earlier this year she suggested we get it for 3 reasons. A) It's good to hear Mandarin and it's even better for Ivo (20 months) to hear it. B) They show a lot of baseball games (though they are mostly Yankee games) and C) Don't you miss zoning out? And it's not like we're suddenly gonna stop reading...
Good points all. So I agreed to get it installed.... which brings me to the point of the post...finally...
I was watching one of the nature channels the other night and they had some vulcanologists not just investigating volcanoes but SUPERVOLCANOES. Lake Toba in Indonesia is one. So is Yellowstone in the States. As well as others scattered across the planet...When these things blow again - and we just don't know really when that'll be - the ash cloud and pyroclastic floes?/flows? should do a pretty good job of blotting out the sun for a couple of years, long enough to kill all plant life... Ambulatory corporeals like ourselves inside the blast zone would obviously be toast...those outside would become victims of a kind of ash inhalation that could only lead to death... there's a word for that... very bad news...The magic number they reckoned on was 75,000 years ago Toba went up and it's possible though not certain that it may have triggered the last ice age...
anyway here's a very comprehensive link on SUPERVOLCANOES...
The last time this was the case was 2001 when we watched the trade towers come down live from NYC and in October of that year the Yanks lost the World Series to the D-Backs... Then the juice was shut off...darkness all around...the flicker of the set silenced... that's ok.... I don't need TV... it's all shit anyway... there's nothing on day to day I absolutely must see...
You end up taking pride in the fact that you don't watch TV. Like this somehow makes one appear smarter and more in touch with the more scholarly pursuits of reading and playing computer baseball... You say to your students, "Sorry, I don't watch TV. Just DVDs... No, I don't know that funny commercial you're talking about. Yeah, no, I missed the brawl in Legislative Yuan..." And I didn't miss it. Really. At all.
Enter the Sandstress. Earlier this year she suggested we get it for 3 reasons. A) It's good to hear Mandarin and it's even better for Ivo (20 months) to hear it. B) They show a lot of baseball games (though they are mostly Yankee games) and C) Don't you miss zoning out? And it's not like we're suddenly gonna stop reading...
Good points all. So I agreed to get it installed.... which brings me to the point of the post...finally...
I was watching one of the nature channels the other night and they had some vulcanologists not just investigating volcanoes but SUPERVOLCANOES. Lake Toba in Indonesia is one. So is Yellowstone in the States. As well as others scattered across the planet...When these things blow again - and we just don't know really when that'll be - the ash cloud and pyroclastic floes?/flows? should do a pretty good job of blotting out the sun for a couple of years, long enough to kill all plant life... Ambulatory corporeals like ourselves inside the blast zone would obviously be toast...those outside would become victims of a kind of ash inhalation that could only lead to death... there's a word for that... very bad news...The magic number they reckoned on was 75,000 years ago Toba went up and it's possible though not certain that it may have triggered the last ice age...
anyway here's a very comprehensive link on SUPERVOLCANOES...
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Spring Scream 2000
Great Spring Scream video by Les Arthur from 2000, year of the Dragon, I think...
Saturday, August 12, 2006
David Cross
Once you know who David Cross is, you see him everywhere. Check out his IMDB bio...
The Sandstress and I first became aware of him for his role as Dr. Tobias Funke on the excellent show ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. One of the funniest shows EVER made... bar none...
Chatting with a friend one day about that particular show he said that we should check out his stand up material... so we did. And I have a new favorite living comedian. No one other than Bill Hicks has ever made me laugh so hard...
I first heard his Comedy Central Presents... pissed my pants...
Then 1999's "The Pride is Back"... "It's Not Funny" and "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" Follow the links to read the reviews...
AS Kevlar would say, "GOOD, DONE, SOLD!" I'm a fan, a fan indeed...
The Sandstress and I first became aware of him for his role as Dr. Tobias Funke on the excellent show ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. One of the funniest shows EVER made... bar none...
Chatting with a friend one day about that particular show he said that we should check out his stand up material... so we did. And I have a new favorite living comedian. No one other than Bill Hicks has ever made me laugh so hard...
I first heard his Comedy Central Presents... pissed my pants...
Then 1999's "The Pride is Back"... "It's Not Funny" and "Shut Up You Fucking Baby!" Follow the links to read the reviews...
AS Kevlar would say, "GOOD, DONE, SOLD!" I'm a fan, a fan indeed...
Old friend stops by...
My old friend Pete Mar swept into town Thursday night on the Taichung leg of his tour of East Asia. This is the second year in a row he's shown up. Not many people who don't live here actually take the time to return to the island once they've gotten a taste... especially in consecutive years...
We of course caught up a bit and Kevlar joined us for some beer and laughs. Pete and Kevlar actually met each other 14 yeras ago when Pete was studying in Halifax and Kevlar was in town visiting a mutual friend. They met for the second time during the summer of '04 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, as I was home visiting the family and Kevlar had made the trip up from Antigonish. (See KEVLAR THE KAYAKER - published earlier this year on this blog).
Pete was home to attend his father's funeral - RIP Dr. Margison - ... Long story short - I took Kevlar out to the bar to meet some of the guys and Pete said "I know that guy!" And the story was recalled... small world story of the day... my long time Taiwan friend and my old school buddy from my hometown knew each other long before I had even thought about coming to Taiwan.
Kevlar left midnightish while Pete and I stayed up til 4 am swapping stories, watching videos, listening to comedians.
Pete told me about this comedian, Dane Cook, who is absolutely hilarious. This is not new information though. Apparently this guy's been appearing on Letterman and the late night talk show circuit for years now... Ahhh the things you miss living in Asia...
No matter, his website has videos of his stand-up and TV appearances and I just about busted a gut watching this guy. Check him out...
Took Pete to the bus station last night. He was off to Tainan and then Green Islandthis morning. Hope he gets some nice weather. Next week he'll be in Hong Kong and then on to Vietnam before returning to his old stomping grounds in Halifax where he'll be relocating after some years in Calgary... Safe travels Pete!!
Thanks for the visit!!!
We of course caught up a bit and Kevlar joined us for some beer and laughs. Pete and Kevlar actually met each other 14 yeras ago when Pete was studying in Halifax and Kevlar was in town visiting a mutual friend. They met for the second time during the summer of '04 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, as I was home visiting the family and Kevlar had made the trip up from Antigonish. (See KEVLAR THE KAYAKER - published earlier this year on this blog).
Pete was home to attend his father's funeral - RIP Dr. Margison - ... Long story short - I took Kevlar out to the bar to meet some of the guys and Pete said "I know that guy!" And the story was recalled... small world story of the day... my long time Taiwan friend and my old school buddy from my hometown knew each other long before I had even thought about coming to Taiwan.
Kevlar left midnightish while Pete and I stayed up til 4 am swapping stories, watching videos, listening to comedians.
Pete told me about this comedian, Dane Cook, who is absolutely hilarious. This is not new information though. Apparently this guy's been appearing on Letterman and the late night talk show circuit for years now... Ahhh the things you miss living in Asia...
No matter, his website has videos of his stand-up and TV appearances and I just about busted a gut watching this guy. Check him out...
Took Pete to the bus station last night. He was off to Tainan and then Green Islandthis morning. Hope he gets some nice weather. Next week he'll be in Hong Kong and then on to Vietnam before returning to his old stomping grounds in Halifax where he'll be relocating after some years in Calgary... Safe travels Pete!!
Thanks for the visit!!!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
"...two years is a long time to be married."
Two years ago today we shoved the clutch and got hitched at a courthouse ceremony on Zi You Rd. in Taichung with 2 other couples. We had 7 friends attend. They attached beer cans to the back of my motorcycle which we proceeded to ride home. We threw a sweet party at our apt. til late, great beer, good food, happy people...
Friday, August 04, 2006
Largest Canyon in the Solar System
The Grand Canyon is the southwestern US is 800 km long, 30km across and 1.8 km deep.
Check out Valles Marineris on Mars. It's 3000km long, 600km across and 8km deep! It looks like a huge gash across the face of Mars. Like a scar after some ancient cosmic knife fight...
Check out Valles Marineris on Mars. It's 3000km long, 600km across and 8km deep! It looks like a huge gash across the face of Mars. Like a scar after some ancient cosmic knife fight...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
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