Neon Elevated with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
Wow! What a night! From the first ring of a single hand bell that roused the ensemble dancers in black to the final explosion of colors that filled the stage, “Thirteen Tongues” /《十三聲》is a stunning representation of a slice of Taiwan. Created by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s new artistic director Tsung-Lung Cheng (鄭宗龍), the production…
Speaking for Trees with Music and Film
Have you ever looked at a tree, like really, really look at it? Taiwanese Composer Chou Hsuan-Hung (周宣宏) and Filmmaker Wei Zhao-Yi (魏肇儀) have. The pair, who started seriously observing trees in 2020, have translated their love for nature and connections to their home city Kaohsiung into a 50-minute film-and-music experience. “Whispers of Trees” /《樹仔聲》takes…
In the garden: Feels good, Smells good, and… HUH?
Spending time in nature is good for health. Benefits include improved attention, reduced stress, and increased happiness. No wonder in The Secret Garden, the sickly, tyrannical Colin tells his cousin Mary that if he were to go the the garden everyday, he should stop being bad-tempered. “There is Magic in there—good Magic,” he proclaims. So…
In the Eye of the Beholder, “Man of God” Inspects the Male Gaze
We’ve all heard of the old axiom that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” While the expression appears innocently empowering, making a point that beauty is subjective and allowing beauty to come in all colors, sizes, and shapes, the phrase in fact does the opposite—it authorizes the Beholder to be the judge of…
Consider the parsley.
America’s salad landscape has since gotten so exciting since my childhood salad days comprised of iceberg/romaine lettuce salad mix dressed in Ranch, Thousand Island or Caesar Salad dressing. As the modern salad becomes a main dish in its own right, dressed in various condiments and accompanied by meats or seafood, here’s a fresh ingredient to…
A Burning
Frustrated? Disappointed? Cynical? I can’t quite nail down how I was feeling after finishing Megha Majumdar’s A Burning. The book lights a fire, burns and builds up hope, but ultimately comes crashing down, disintegrating the ashes bit by bit. I wanted a happy ending to this novel—I was somehow hopeful all along that one of…
Drink, Eat, Exfoliate.
Eat, pray, love? Nahhhh. Let’s drink, eat, and exfoliate. I am talking about homemade soy + barley milk. Growing up, soy milk is a familiar breakfast item—a favorite childhood breakfast menu of mine was pairing a Taiwanese rice ball (飯糰 fan-tuan) with a bowl of slightly-sweetened soy milk. The items, prepared on the spot, were…
Tell you a Kahaani
I can’t tell you a lot. Except, watch Kahaani, a 2012 Hindi-language thriller directed by Sujoy Ghosh. My one hint for you is that Kahaani is the Hindu word for story. Who is telling who a story? And whose story should you be paying attention to and detangling? The Plot The film opens with the…
CNY in Penang, Malaysia
Growing up in the U.S. I have vague memories of celebrating the Lunar New Year. Sure, I kind of remember that the holiday is about 15 days long and on occasions when relatives were present, I received lucky money. But since moving to the U.S. in grade school, I mainly just remember eating hotpot with…
The Vanishing Half
“The hardest part about becoming someone else was deciding to. The rest was only logistics.” Stella, The Vanishing Half I was hooked by Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half the moment I read the opening chapter. I churned through the book into the wee hours of the night, finishing the book in one sitting after several hours…
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