New kind of challenge, new kind of stress 新挑戰，新壓力

I'll be co-hosting my first press conference in two days. The PC is to kick off "花之戀," a 25-episode soap opera that FTV bought the broadcast rights to. It was filmed in China and Japan, and in addition to the Taiwanese producer, four Taiwanese actors, there will be several Japanese sponsors, including government officials, attending the event as well. My partner will handle most of the talking in Mandarin, and I will be chiming in here and there and roughly interpreting the main points into Japanese so our Japanese guests don't feel left out. I'm more or less fine with that, since I already know what my co-host will be saying.

後天將是我主持記者會的處女秀。
這場記者會是民視新十點檔"花之戀"的試片會。
這連續劇是在中國和日本拍的，
所以除了製作人和四位台灣演員，
還有一些日本贊助單位，
包括政府官員都會到場。
大部分會是我的搭檔主持，
他會國語講。
我呢，
就要用日文這邊插一句，那邊插一句，
讓日本來賓也有參與感，
不會好像鴨子聽雷。
這部份應該沒什麼問題，
只要把日文先準備好就好了，
反正已經知道當天主持會說什麼話，
而且日文部份也只是簡略的講而已。

However, there will be one part where I have to interpret for one of the actors and I have no idea what he's going to say until he says it. These days, my Japanese is about as good as the English of third graders here in Taiwan. Well, maybe a little better than that. I have no confidence whatsoever.

不過呢，
有一個部份，我要幫張國柱直譯，
我完全不曉得這要怎麼準備。
現在我的日文能力退步到大概跟
三年級台灣小朋友的英文能力差不多吧。
或許沒那麼差啦，
但是我一點信心都沒有。

And to make it worse, Mama will be watching. And probably cringing. Then she's going to give me a harsher-than-necessary lecturing afterwards and then I'll have to go into trauma counseling every day for the next two weeks.

更恐怖的是，
Mama兩顆大大的眼睛就會在那裡盯著我，
看著我的表現，聽著我的日文。
事後她一定會狠狠的唸我一頓，
害我連續兩個禮拜得天天找心理醫師輔導。

Ah, I'm thinking too much. But this is so stressful. And nothing scares me more than my two mothers. At least only one of them will be at my PC debut.

哎唷，我想太多了。
不過這真的讓我非常非常的緊張。
我天不怕，地不怕，連播台語新聞都不怕了，
唯一就是我那兩個媽，會讓我如此的批批挫。
嚇死人啦...
至少這場主持記者會的處女秀，只有一個會在現場...

Elephant steadycam

Part of a BBC project to film wildlife.




(via NOTCOT.org)

Ow. 痛。

On the way to work, I took a big, nasty spill on wet tiles outside Zhongxiao Dunhua Station. I slipped and fell so fast and hard I didn’t even know what was happening until I was sliding along the tiles on my left side with the bike on top of me. I banged my knees and my head, and good thing I had both a helmet and a backpack on to break the fall. Oh, it was painful. And I guess at 8h15, everyone was in a rush to get to work so no handsome man stopped to help me up and ask me if I was OK and then invite me for coffee and then ask me to marry him. So after a “Jesus Christ!” I picked myself back up and resumed peddling.

Oh, the story doesn't end there. Then around 10h45, we practically flew from the zoo in far away Muzha to the Ministry of Education in the central district, I saw something like ten cameras all set up at the entrance of the lobby of the ministry. “Oh no! We’re so late!” I thought, and I swung the car door open, was dashing up the steps to the lobby until I felt my legs go weak and catch one of the steps instead of stepping on it. Realizing that I was tripping, my other leg tried to step up and stabilize, but that was weak too, so the other one forced its way up, but just couldn’t make it and I flew forward onto the landing and fell flat on my face. It went “clunk, clunk, clunk, splat!” Everyone turned around and said, “Michella?” More pain and embarrassment. Roy, my cameraman said, “I’ve never seen anyone fall UP the stairs before…”

The swelling’s gone down quite a bit and although there is still some red, much of it has turned black and blue. I don’t think I’ve looked like this since my karate days in college. No skirts for me anytime soon.

Tonight, I decided to not ride my bicycle to yoga and then home. Instead, I took a taxi and came straight home and repotted an orchid. No jogging either. I’m going to paint my nails and go to bed and forget today happened.

My pet block 我的新朋友

Some people keep a pet rock. I now have a pet block. No, it is not Mr Magorium's magic block of wood. It's Michella Jade's hypnotic block of hinoki (cyprus). My room now smells like a magical forest where fairies and animals that talk fly out and pop up here and there. While it's been written that the scent from hinoki reduces stress, it doesn't say anywhere that it is hallucinogenic. This means, it's time for bed. Thanks Mom and Dad for buying it for me and Chaoren for finding it! If you are interested, you can find more at Nonzero.

有些人養石頭，當作寵物。
我呢，之前養花，
現在開始也養木頭。
這是檜木。
現在整個房間聞起來
像是個住滿了小仙女
和會講話的小動物的
魔幻森林。
是有看到寫說檜木可以
消除疲勞，
但是好像沒有看到會
產生幻覺。
應該是睡覺時間了。
謝謝爸爸媽媽買給我，
謝謝超人找到這好東西！
想買的人，到Nonzero找得到！

Nonzero 非零餐廳
仁愛路4段27巷4弄5號
+886 2 2772 1630

View Larger Map

El Bulli

Must visit and bring back story!

Bucket list 一路玩到掛

Saw this with Ann last night and laughed until I cried. I think I’m going to go on that four-day hike with the education minister after all to see the great crossing 能高越嶺where thousands of indigenous Taiwanese were slaughtered while trying to resist the Japanese army. However much I dislike him professionally, I want to take the opportunity to see how beautiful Taiwan is, and to learn a little more about its history.

Here is the trailer.


(picture via the official website)

Definitely worth seeing.

I got it! 想通了！

Lately, I’ve been complaining a lot about having to take days off in order to anchor. But if I look at it as “anchor training,” then I guess it’s OK. Although no one’s really training you, you get to train yourself at least.

最近我常常抱怨
要休假來播報，
但是如果把這看成
“主播訓練班”
就不會生氣了。
雖然沒有人教你，
不過還是有自己在教自己。

My mission statement 我的宗旨

I often think about what I want to do, where I want to go with my work. Recently, I’ve come up with a mission statement:

Making life more fulfilling through media.

I want to show people different ways of life, different things to try, different things to do and different things to see. Through this, I hope to inspire them to keep trying different things, which will make their lives more interesting and therefore more fulfilling.

How I will do this, I have no idea. But at least I have a direction.

有時候會想想，
我在工作上到底想往哪呢方向去。
最近，我想出一個宗旨：

透過媒體，讓大家的生活更豐富。

我想讓大家能夠看到不同的生活方式，
看到一些自己也可以來試試的東西，
我希望能夠激發大家不斷的嘗試
新的東西，讓自己的生活更有趣，
更豐富。

怎麼做，不曉得。
不過至少有了方向。

Political affiliation – the good, the bad, the ugly 政治色彩，有好有壞

After filming the lighting of celebratory firecrackers outside Ma Ying-jeou’s home, I interviewed some neighbors gathered at the park across the street from the apartment building.

Me: now that your neighbor’s about to become the next president, how do you feel?
Neighbor: so good that I have no words to describe it!
Me: but he’ll have to move away and into the presidential office. Won’t you be sad?
Neighbor: I’ll be sad, but I think the presidential office needs him too.
Me: what do you hope he’ll change or improve?
Neighbor: I hope he’ll be able to fix our education system and put more effort into culture and arts developments.

Then someone asks, “hey, what station are you from?” This neighbor takes a look at my microphone, which says “民視 FTV,” and starts angrily pointing his finger at me, shouting how biased FTV is, how lousy its news reports are, over and over again. (FTV was founded and is owned by DPP supporters. Many of the upper management still are DPP supporters.) I kept quiet and hoped the man would go away. I wasn’t so lucky. All of a sudden, it became a crowd of about 30, with five or six pointing fingers and yelling at me about FTV. They were in front of me and to my left. Then reporters and cameramen from other stations rushed over and filmed from my right. I was totally closed in, and the madness was intensifying and coming up on the verge of becoming violent. I did not talk or yell back, I just kept bowing, smiling and praying that it would stop. And then one man stood out and said “come on, she’s just a reporter, it’s the management that’s the problem. She has no say in this.” Then others chimed in and said, “you have to get rid of the top, you have to get rid of the top.” Things began to cool down. Eventually, it settled, and some even said “民視加油！” That was even scarier than searching for the decomposing body of a brutal murder victim in the mountains in the middle of the night.

Where was the San-li TV (who is even more DPP leaning than FTV) reporter in all of this? Hiding behind a tree. I don’t blame her. All I have to say is, good thing the DPP didn’t win. My fate may have been different if it had won.

拍完馬英九家外頭鄰居放鞭炮，
開始訪問在對面公園聚集的鄰居。

我：文山區出了個總統，感覺如何啊？
鄰居： 開心得不曉得怎麼說！
我：但是他現在要搬到總統府去了，會不會捨不得？
鄰居：會啊，但是總統府也需要一個好主人。
我：你期望馬英九會幫大家做什麼事？
鄰居：我希望他能夠提升教育和文化。

接著，旁邊的人問我，你視哪一台？
他看看我手中的麥克風，上面寫著
“民視 FTV”還有一個民視大眼睛的logo。
然後他開始很激動的指著手指，
罵說民視多不中立，
新聞多爛多差，
一直罵，一直罵。
我沒說話，只希望著這個人趕快走開。
門都沒有。
一瞬間，大約30名鄰居圍過來，
有五六名跟著指手指，罵罵罵。
他們站在我的前方、左方，
然後其他文字和攝影記者都聽到了，
全部從右邊圍過來，開燈，拍攝。
完全被包圍，氣氛越來越緊張，
覺得事件快要發生了。
我沒有回嘴，只是一直微笑，
一直禮貌性的鞠躬，
祈禱這事情趕快過去。
還好有一個人站出來說，
“哎呀，她只是記者，
問題在上面啦。”
其他人就開始說，
“要把上面換掉，
要把上面換掉！”
接下來就慢慢緩和了，
後來還有人說，
“民視加油！民視加油！”
這事情比半夜搜山找屍體還恐怖。

這當中三立呢？
躲在樹後面。
我不怪她。
我只能說，如果那天是民進黨贏，
我的下場可能不太一樣喔。

Reporters do get verbally and physically attacked sometimes, however not often. This usually happens when emotionally charged people see a reporter working for a TV station that leans towards the other party. This is why at political rallies, I make sure to wear neutral colors, so people won’t get the impression that I support one party or another. One of my friends and coworker decided to test his luck and wore the FTV-issued jacket (which happens to be red) to the pro-Chen rally two years ago. Because the anti-Chen guys chose red as their color, when the pro-Chen people saw red, they went nuts and attacked him. Also on the same day, an anchor for CTI TV (KMT leaning) was attacked by Chen supporters during his live broadcast from the rally location. Chen is DPP. Ironically, although that anchor works for CTI TV, he personally is a strong DPP supporter.

有時候記者真的會被打、被辱罵，
但是不常。
通常都是激情的民眾
看到挺跟自己不同黨的
電視台記者才會這樣。
所以跑造勢活動的時候，
我都會換上比較沒有
爭議性顏色的衣服。
倒扁的時候，我一個同事
也是朋友，就想賭賭看，
看會不會有事。
當天是挺扁的出來造勢，
但是他就堅持穿著公司公會之前發的
外套(剛好是紅色)。
果然被打，還成了新聞。
同一天，也有中天的主播
在現場播新聞的時候被攻擊。
其實攻擊他的挺扁民眾不曉得，
那主播雖然在藍藍的中天，
其實心裡是很綠的。

But these things work both ways.

After the former secretary-general of the ministry of education spoke inappropriately about Ma Ying-jeou’s father, he went into hiding. Everyone on the education beat was looking for him because he had not given a statement or interview since the incident. Everyone called and called and called and left text messages on his mobile. I did too. I wrote “Hi Prof Zhuang, this is Michella Jade Weng of Formosa TV. I know you’ve been through a lot the past few days and I’m sure you have lots on your mind. If you feel like sharing, we will be more than happy to meet you. But in any case, please do take care of yourself.” That night at 22h00 when I was on my way home from work, he called me! He even gave me another phone number to reach him at. I was ecstatic, because now I have a way of getting a hold of him and can also get an interview. He also told me, “I only trust FTV and San-li TV that you guys will not twist my words around.” Well, FTV and San-li are the two green cable news stations. Surprise, surprise. Right after his phone call, I rang my chief editor and got her voice mail. I left a message, but she didn’t call back. I knew it wasn’t good. The next morning, she patted my shoulder and said “you’re a good reporter, but from our company’s standpoint, until after elections, uh, uh…” I finished the sentence for her, “it would be better if he had disappeared.” I was disappointed that I couldn’t do the story and I was disappointed that ethics once again meant nothing. But the moral of the story is, leaning to a party can make or break you, and if you maneuver well enough, it can be very helpful and get you places. However, I’m too simpleminded for this kind of thing. If they had me do political news every day, I think I’d last only a week.

不過這種東西是兩面的。

莊國榮失言風波，
他躲起來，向學校請假，
不接手機，不回簡訊。
幾乎全國的教育線記者
都在狂打他電話，要把他找出來，
因為事發後，他還沒漏過面。
我也發了個簡訊給他，
“莊老師好，我是民視翁郁容，
您辛苦了，
相信這幾天心情一定很複雜。
如果您有話想說，
只要您願意，我們很樂意
和您見面。不過無論如何，
請保重。”
沒想到，當天晚上十點
他打電話來了，而且還
給我另外一支手機號碼
可以連絡到他。
他還跟我說，他只信任
民視和三立，怕其他
藍色的台會把他講的話
扭轉，斷章取義。
我開心的不得了，
想說可以做獨家了。
馬上打給長官，
但是沒接，只好留言。
沒回電，想說不妙。。。
隔天早上，長官用力拍了幾下
我的肩膀，說
“妳是個很認真的記者，
但是以我們公司立場，
在選前, uh, uh…”
我幫她完成句子，
“他最好人間蒸發。”
當時很失望我的獨家飛了，
很失望新聞倫理又不見了。
不過重點是，
親任何黨派的電視台，
成也是黨，敗也是黨。
如果好好操作，
可以帶給你很多，
但是我腦筋太簡單了，
無法玩這種遊戲。
如果要我每天跑黨政新聞，
我想我一個星期都撐不住。

Government offices have media budgets, and some use it to make embedded advertising. When poorly done, it looks like government propaganda. When well done, it looks like news. Some of it is news worthy though. However, when you’re taking money from a specific government office, you don’t want to turn around and criticize it. So add that to the fact that the ruling party is your friend, how much criticism can a reporter make? In other words, how unbiased can the reporter be?

Without going into details and getting myself fired, I’ll just say that FTV reporters will be able to criticize and scrutinize the incoming government’s policies and doings and finally practice some decent journalism.

政府單位都有媒體預算。
有些會拿來用製入性行銷。
做得好，看起來像新聞。
做不好，看起來像文宣。
不過，有一些真的蠻有新聞價值的。
但是呢，當你一手拿人家錢，
另一手怎麼可能打人家嘴巴呢？
尤其當執政黨是你的好朋友，
怎麼可能讓記者好好批評，監督呢？

再寫可能就要被炒魷魚了，
這樣說吧，
我很開心新政府進來之後，
民視的記者就可以好好發揮
媒體監督的功能了。
我也可以少一點掛”綜合報導”了。

I didn't vote 我沒投票

KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou won the election. I didn’t vote for him. I didn’t vote for his opponent, the DPP’s Frank Hsieh either. From 7h00 morning of elections, I was posted where Nobel Laureate Lee Yuan-tseh’s was expected to come to vote. Although he is an academic, but because he often makes very bold political statements, his actions in public are closely watched. In the afternoon, I was sent to Ma Ying-jeou’s residence to film neighbors setting off firecrackers in celebration, and was there until after 20h00. Honestly, if I had the opportunity to vote, I think I would have cast an invalid ballot in protest of how politics in Taiwan is conducted.

國民黨總統候選人馬英九當選，
不過我沒投給他，
也沒投給民進黨候選人謝長廷。
選舉當天，早上七點就在
前中研院長李遠哲的投票所。
下午，我被派到馬英九家外面，
拍鄰居放鞭炮慶祝的畫面。
晚上八點之後才又回到公司。
但是說實在，如果有機會投票，
我想我會投廢票，
抗議台灣政治亂象。
別看我乖乖的，
我可是hippy發源地舊金山長大的呦。

Events leading up to the elections were quite exciting. First, a KMT legislature stormed the DPP candidate’s campaign headquarters, causing a ruckus and nonstop apologies from the KMT candidate the next day. The DPP camp had a field day with this. The legislator resigned and held a press conference saying that he would consider ending his life if this caused the KMT candidate to lose. Then the secretary general of the ministry of education publicly accused the KMT candidate’s late father of being promiscuous, saying instead of having a god-daughter he was having a f***-daughter. While the sec-gen did have a reputation of being a potty mouth in public, this was way over the edge. He resigned from his post that night via telephone. (His boss, the minister of education did not know of any of this until the sec-gen rang him. I wonder how he explained what he did and what he said.) Polls showed he caused a 6% slide. Then violence breaks out in Tibet, again becoming ammunition for the DPP, saying that this is what will happen if you vote for the pro-unification KMT. The media, however, commented that the DPP would have needed China to squash out the Tibet uprisings three times over to make up for the damage the sec-gen caused.

選舉前發生的一些事情還真exciting.
國民黨立委費鴻泰帶著一群人到
民進黨競選總部踢館大鬧，
隔天包括馬英九也出來不停的道歉。
可想而知，民進黨那邊就拿這個來打國民黨。
費鴻泰為這是見道歉，辭黨職，
招開記者會說如果這造成馬英九落選，
不排除結束生命。
(心裡想，國民黨版的王世堅跳／失足落海?)
不過接下來，換教育部主秘莊國榮
在台中造勢場子，上台批評馬英九
已故父親馬鶴凌愛玩女人，
乾女兒是*女兒。
平常就有個公開場合講粗話的名聲，
莊國榮這次太過火了。
當晚，他打電話向教育部長杜正勝請辭。
(杜正勝直到接了莊國榮的電話
才知道發生事情，但是我很好奇，
莊國榮是如何跟杜正勝解釋
發生了什麼事，用了什麼不當的
言語)
隔天，民調顯示，莊國榮失言
造成了民進黨6%的下滑。
不過接下來就發生了中國鎮壓西藏
的事情，馬上成為民進黨的子彈，
嚇選民，如果投給馬英九，
台灣就會成為第二個西藏。
雖然這幫助了民進黨選情，
但是媒體報導，要三個西藏
才抵得過一個莊國榮。

Although not one person or factor caused the DPP to lose hold of power, the general sentiment was that people felt disappointed by the corruption associated with the DPP (especially with President Chen Shui-bian’s family) over the past eight years and wage stagnation since the DPP came into power.

雖然不是任何一個人
還是一個事件讓民進黨
無法保住執政權，
但是general sentiment是
大部分選民對民進黨貪污
(尤其是陳水扁總統家庭的貪污)
已經徹底的失望，
加上民進黨執政八年來
大家沒賺到更多錢。

My feeling is, Chen and his DPP worked hard to give the Taiwanese people pride and identity. They wanted to be recognized as the independent country “Taiwan” in the international political arena. They wanted those divorce papers signed and be legal and put an end to the mess. During this process, the DPP tried to convince people that they need to be a part of this action, and to join the effort. This effectively turned everyone into political activists. In general, young political activists who are successful turn into rich politicians, and the other political activists (which make up the vast majority) continue to be starving students, still angry and still sitting in the cold and still going nowhere underneath that 大中至正 or 自由廣場 sign. Metaphorically, the Taiwanese have become those starving, angry students who have not gone anywhere and are still going nowhere. I think in addition to the Chen family’s corruption, people are tired of being hungry and going nowhere, and thus turned to the smooth-talking Ma Ying-jeou, who may not seem the brightest person, but decent enough to give a chance to.

我的感覺是，陳水扁和民進黨
這幾年來努力的為台灣人民
在國際上爭取身分和尊嚴。
他們要讓台灣在國際政壇上
被認定是一個獨立的國家”台灣”。
他們要台灣和大陸的離婚證書在
法律上生效。
這過程當中，民進黨努力
說服人民，這是全民活動，
大家要一起來。
也就是說，好像把國民全都
變成了社運人士。
一般來講，年輕的社運人士
如果成功了，就會變成
有錢的政治家。
如果不成功，就繼續當
又餓又冷又生氣的窮學生，
日夜在大中至正/自由廣場牌匾下
靜坐。
所以就像沒成功的社運學生，
人民感覺又餓又冷又沒達到什麼目標，
加上第一家庭的貪污，
許多人把寶貴的那一票投給
口才好又瀟灑的馬英九。
雖然好像不是那麼的聰明，
但是大家還是覺得一票投給他，
下四個年頭，就讓他來試試看吧。

I’m back! 我回來了！

Elections are tough on the media! Our off days were blocked out from one week before the presidential elections until one day after the elections. The lucky folks only had to work nine straight days. Some had to work more than 15. I was one of the lucky – I only had to work ten before getting a day off to recharge.

選舉的時候，媒體真的好辛苦！
我們被禁了九天假，
幸運的人剛剛好連上九天，
倒楣的人得連上超過十五天，
我算蠻lucky，上了十天班之後，
休息了一天。

I was so tired every night when I got home that I started falling asleep in my work clothes and make-up again. I would do laundry, put it in the dryer, take it out, pile it on my bed to fold and put away, but only to bulldoze it onto the floor and konk out. Then I would pick out a right sock, a left sock, underwear and a pair of jeans from the pile and then find a top and a jacket from the closet in next morning. And when I got home from work, I’d go digging in that same pile for pajamas and underwear for the night (when I did not fall asleep in my work clothes and make-up). I felt like Lucky, Miffy, King and Oreo digging for toys in the garden. I’ve never seen my room so messy and lived so much like Michael.

每天都好累，
晚上回到家，
常常沒換衣服 、卸妝、洗澡，
就昏倒在床上。
衣服洗一洗、烘乾、拿出來、
倒到床上準備折好、收好，
結果像堆土機般的，
我把衣服全推到地上，
早上再從衣服堆當中
撈出一隻左襪、一隻又襪、
內衣褲、牛仔褲，
然後到衣櫥裡找出一件
上衣和外套。
晚上呢，如果沒有倒頭就睡，
再從衣服丘裡面挖出睡衣和內衣褲。
那感覺好像Lucky, Miffy, King, Oreo
在花園裡面挖寶。
第一次體驗房間那麼亂，
也第一次體驗到Michael的生活習慣。

Although the elections was grueling and often times frustrating for me, I had a very interesting experience. The feeling of being in it together with the rest of my exhausted colleagues was great. Rarely does this happen, but few people complained. News-wise, politics-wise, news mixed together with politics-wise, I learned so much.




雖然總統大選很累，
有時候也讓我感到無奈，
但真的是一個有趣的經驗。
跟一樣也是累到快死的同事
一起奮鬥，打選戰的感覺真好。
很難得的，這期間，很少人抱怨。
新聞方面、政治方面、政治新聞方面，
收穫好多好多。

Super Sunday 超級星期天

Super Sunday, the last Sunday before elections took place today. I was posted at the KMT rally site in Taipei. There were supposedly more than ten thousand KMT supporters there, but compared to other locations, it was rather boring. Other rallies had plenty of props and skits and creative content, of course blasting the other side, but nonetheless, it seemed like a carnival if you turned the sound on the TV off and pretended the headlines did not mean anything.

Although I think the 1.5 million people (Mom and Dad included) who went out to rallies today are nuts, I do very much appreciate the democratic environment that we live in.

But after four hours of walking around in the sun covering the Tour de Taipei bicycle race and then three more hours standing the KMT rally, I’m totally exhausted!

Here is the KMT rally, where I was.








--------------------------------------------------------
From the DPP rallies.

















(photos via Apple Daily)

Pull through, Grandpa! 阿公加油！

Grandpa (Lin) suffered from a coronary artery dissection, and things happened so fast... Last week, over two 10+ hours surgeries, doctors amputated his right foot, removed 120 cm of his small intestines, repaired a coronary artery, rewired other arteries and stuck him full of tubes connected to plenty of machines. Doctors said he had a 1% chance of survival, but he's doing better and better now. He still looks like operator central with all the tubes and lines, and he's in stable, but critical condition.

When I visited him at the ICU today, he was conscious and knew it was me. He could hold my hand and squeeze and nod his head when I talked to him, and it felt like he was trying to comfort me more than I was trying to comfort him. It was heart wrenching, but at least he is getting better.

外公遭遇到心血管剝離，
事情發生的好快。
一個星期內，
經歷了兩次超過10小時的手術，
醫生截支了他右腳，
切除了120公分的小腸，
重接了血管，
修復了心血管，
在他身上插一堆管子，
接上一堆機器。
醫生原本說他只有1%的機會，
但是現在狀況越來越好。
雖然還在加護病房，
身體插的管子讓他看起來像總機先生，
不過至少狀況穩定下來了。

今天去看阿公的時候，
他意識清醒，也知道是我，
還會跟我點頭，緊握我的手，
好像要安慰我，"阿公沒事啦"。
好心酸。

今天沒被罵；塑造主播特色 No complaints today; creating an anchor's style and impression

今天播得還算順利！
雖然下小夜班，睡三個鐘頭
就要準備會到公司播新聞，
但是可能因為前一天晚上，
偷了點時間順了部份的台語稿，
早上就不用那麼急，
也不會那麼緊張。

整個頭腦還在中文運轉模式，
這次試試先寫中文再寫英文。

Anchoring went quite well today! Although I had just come off the night shift and only slept for three hours, it went OK. Maybe it was because I stole some time the previous night to work on the Taiwanese scripts. So I guess in the morning, I wasn't so rushed and stressed out like I normally am.

剛剛鼓起勇氣，
去看民視主播討論板，
恩，目前還沒人抱怨。
在嵐綺的幫忙下，台語稿有全部順完，
現在也講得比較smooth一點點了。
當然，我還有很遠很遠的路要走…
還有，在Amy的指教下，
國語新聞開始加入轉折，
讓觀眾看得舒服一點。
繼續努力。
下次要記得在鏡頭下面貼
"不-要-往-前-頃，肩-膀-放-輕-鬆"。

I finally mustered up courage and checked the anchor discussion forum. Whew. No complaints…yet. With help from Lanchi, I was able to finish going through all the Taiwanese scripts before heading into the studio, so the Taiwanese was much smoother this week. Of course, I still have a long way to go with that. And with Amy’s advice on transitioning between stories, I think the flow was better and it was a little more comfortable for viewers to watch. Have to keep working on this. Oh, and next week, I must also remember to stick a piece of paper that says “do not lean forward, do not raise shoulders” on the camera.

最近在想一個問題，
就是"主播特色"。
不久之前，嘉爵提醒我和Abby，
主播除了要有權威、專業，
也要有特色，因為畢竟主播是
show business的一部份。

Recently, I’ve been thinking about something Jack said to Abby and I a few days ago. He was reminded us that in addition to authority and professionalism, each anchor must also have a trademark characteristic, in other words, something with which to make an impression on the audience. After all, anchors are also a part of show business.

來看看幾位讓我比較有印象的
專任新聞主播。

Let’s take a look at a few anchors that have made special impressions on me. (Sorry, I’m going to use Hanyu pinyin for their names.)


李四端: no frills, no nonsense，
講得清楚，沒有壓迫感，
但常吃螺絲 (許多人說他是"螺絲端")。

Li Siduan: no frills, no nonsense, delivers clearly, does not put pressure on the audience, stumbles over words a lot.


方念華: also no frills, no nonsense，
講得清楚，但像在說教
(因此大家稱呼她"方老師")。

Fang Nianhua: also no frills, no nonsense, delivers clearly, but sounds like she’s lecturing or preaching.


張雅琴: 膨膨頭 (眼鏡蛇頭、Medusa頭)，
常講(錯)英文，親切口語用語
(講話上感覺比較親切，但是視覺上
讓我怕怕，所以還是轉台)。

Zhang Yaqing: big hair (cobra hair, Medusa hair), often uses English (incorrectly), tries to sound friendly by using very colloquial phrases (but she scares me visually, so I always change the channel when I see her).



李偵禎: 知性，冷靜，嚴肅。

Li Zhenzhen: rational, calm, cool, serious.


黃鵬仁: 播新聞好像在賣新聞
(有點像在菜市場賣魚的感覺)，
把每條新聞講的跟什麼一樣，
每條新聞好像都是不得了的事情。

Huang Pengren: he presents news like he’s selling news, kind of like how a person might sell fish at a market. He makes each story sound like a major disaster or something.


鄒倩琳: 女版黃鵬仁。
Zou Qianlin: the female version of Huang Pengren.

雖然我不是專任主播，
也不把我的最終目標定在那，
不過我還是要想辦法留一個
深刻的印象給觀眾。

那我要創造什麼樣的形象呢?
因為我覺得新聞因該越真實越好，
我不想用裝的，不想用演的。

先想想別人跟我講過我有什麼特色：
活潑、陽光、樂觀、開朗的個性，
美國人般的正面、獨立思考，
日本人的禮貌、規矩，
還有英、日、中、台語嘛ㄟ通的語言能力。

I’m not a full-time anchor, nor is becoming one my ultimate goal. However, I still have to try and make an impression on the audience. What style shall I take? What image shall I create? Well, I think sticking to reality is probably best for news, so I don’t want to pretend and I don’t want to act like someone I’m not just to achieve this. Where do I start? Maybe with what people tell me are unique traits that I have. They say I’m energetic, full of sunshine, optimistic and outgoing. I think positively and independently, much the way Americans do, and I have the manners of a well-taught Japanese girl. Also, I can speak English, Japanese, Mandarin and Taiwanese.

這樣的話要怎麼轉為主播特色？
這能夠成為主播特色嗎？
朋友跟我說，
因為我不是主編也不是製作人，
我無法控制新聞內容和方向，
但是我能影響觀眾怎麼看這條新聞。
或許我能這樣，
將適量的正面思考、樂觀和陽光帶入新聞，
加入自己在國際上看到的觀點，
然後就像我平常講話一樣，
自然的穿插一點點英文和日文，
輕鬆講新聞。
看看這樣能不能被接受。

So how is all of this going to mold the impression I am to give to people? A friend once told me that since I’m no the editor-in-chief and not the producer, I have no control over how the story is made. However, I can and I should influence the audience in the way that I think I should. Perhaps I can add that sunshine, energy and optimism into my presenting. Maybe I can influence people to think positively. And maybe I can naturally add a little bit of English and Japanese into it like I normally do when I speak, and in a relaxing manner, tell the audience the news like I’m telling them stories over tea and cookies.

(pictures via FTV, SET, TVBS, CTI)

Happy birthday to me! 生日快樂！

Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me life 29 years ago, and raising a very expensive and difficult Me.

Thank you to Auntie Linda for the happy birthday phone call from Tokyo and everyone who sent me happy birthday messages!

Exciting exciting! 好刺激，好刺激！

I had my first big crime story last night. It involved missing dinner, tearing through the streets of Taipei City and Taipei County (at times it felt like we were going 150 kph on local streets and 200 kph on the freeway), going on a wild goose chase and finally finding in the dead of night, the seven-day-old decomposing body of a 192 cm man first knocked out by a blunt object and then choked to death, buried in the mountains of Da-zhi, Taipei, and also, a sprained ankle.

The case is still under investigation, but our understanding is that this man was killed by a 19-year-old high school student and his two friends. The leading suspect owed more than TWD130.000 in baseball gambling debts, and the victim went after him to get the money. After killing the victim, the suspect took a flight out to Kinmen to hop on a boat and escape to China. However, the coast guard caught him during a routine check and arrested him. First, he would not tell the police where he had dumped the body. Then he said it was in a car and sent the police on a wild goose chase. After running all around the greater Taipei area, the police were fed up with his lies and decided to just give him over to the court. Then his two accomplices turned themselves in and he realized that if he didn't cooperate and his accomplices did, he was going to get the death sentence. He finally coughed up the truth and led the police to where the body was buried.

Our crew (me, my cameraman and driver) got there first. In a mountainous road very dimly lit, we found an empty police van parked at the entrance of a trail. However, no one was in sight. We thought if the police were nearby, we'd at least see light coming from flashlights, but they were so far down the side of the mountain that we could not see anything. Dead body, murder suspect, pitch dark mountain side, high heels...I did not want to go forward. Our indecision came to a conclusion when another crew and another policeman showed up, and we went together down the trail, using light from my cameraman's camera and the light from the screens of our mobile phone (I had never appreciated how bright those things were until that moment). Some very scary minutes later, we were stopped before where the rest of the police and suspect were. The suspect was showing the police where the body was, and some of the policemen were burning ghost money right around the site.



Then some other crews caught up, and some of the other cameramen were close enough and said, "hey, you can see a hand" or "hey, you can see a foot." I wanted to run run run away! But I couldn't. Instead, I just stuck my microphone into the general direction of where they were excavating and turned my head away. I asked my cameraman, "what's going on? I'm too afraid to look." He said, "don't worry, you can't see anything even if you tried to look. It's too far down."

A few moments later, family members of the victim came to the scene and identified the body. After the family left, the police started digging up the body. And I went to do a live broadcast from the satellite news truck. After the 23h00 and 24h00 broadcasts, the body had still not been fully excavated, and even though live news ends at 01h00, we had to stay and film them cart and drive the body away. Oh god... I usually don't like to be on a scene crawling with reporters and cameramen, but this was one of those rare exceptions.

Before the body came up, the medical examiner told us that they found the body to be totally stripped of clothing, the head bearing marks corresponding to blunt force trauma, and ligature marks around the neck (I never thought I'd ever have to use vocabulary from the CSI TV show). They also found the body dumped into the shallow grave head first.

Then the body came up, I stuck out the microphone and hid my head again and then it was all over.

It was an exciting, scary and valuable experience. I don't know if I want to do it again, but after some explaining by Guangzhong, the acting night shift assigner, covering this type of news is really good training, because as the story keeps developing, you have to be continuously thinking about the questions the police are trying to solve and their every next move. You have to think about the suspect's background, motive, how the crime was committed and the evidence that's involved. To get information from the authorities, you really have to be buddy-buddy with them, or have earned their respect one way or another.



There were a couple of cultural aspects to do with the dead that I learned. When the police found the body, they burned ghost money. That was to tell the soul that he's been found and that things will be alright. The police also found the body naked. The suspects stripped the body because they were afraid that the ghost would come and haunt them, and according to Chinese myth, if the ghost is naked, it would be too embarrassed to roam around and therefore would not go find its killer. Interesting.

Oh, just so glad it's over.

Now I have to get rid of the cold I caught and fix the ankle I sprained last night. *Sniffle*

(pictures via TVBS News)

又被罵了

拜託一下,不要再讓翁郁容小姐報導新聞了好嗎,真的看不下去了,咬字不清不打緊,講話常常打結,也不會說台語還要報導台語新聞,難道民視沒人才了嗎,還是有什麼非得用她不可的壓力嗎,尊重一下觀眾好嗎,謝謝

Sigh.
繼續努力。

(via FTV anchor discussion forum)