英文地圖錯誤百出 北市府鬧笑話

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLXh6sC14Y

Embarrassing. The councilman pointed out that the April edition had the same mistake, too. I wonder how long it's been this way. The culture bureau issued a statement saying they will reprint the May issue after mistakes have been corrected.

Mini book bag souvenirs selling like hot cakes 學校書包迷你版熱賣

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWNeLfbbqZ4

最近不少學校的小書包突然夯了起來，尤其名校的小包包特別熱門，但許多因為怕行政上的麻煩，不願意對外販售。尤其最近在小綠包見報後，學校警衛室杯杯快被詢問電話和前來詢 問的民眾煩死了。其實這是個不錯的籌經費的方式呀...

I suggested 建中 that they make other paraphernalia with 建中媽 and 建中爸 printed on it, and the kid said yeah, "建媽建爸包，不錯！" At least that's what I thought he said. Might've sounded different to someone else though...

A couple of reporters with a sense of humor 兩位有幽默感的記者

一位是華視的Miffy
一位是民視的小米
兩位厲害的是
有時候能把超級無聊的新聞
做得很爆笑，很有趣，很有吸引力

台中市政府砸三億造景觀道路，直劈開森林
小米爬山爬到喘呼呼還想得出 “把翠綠的山頭變禿頭”
實在太厲害了

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jn-rzc5ifo

不知道為何藝人修片還可以成為新聞
但Miffy做得讓所有人笑翻，連不少記者們也一看再看，笑個不停

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8LDf5C2Cvc

Cafe de France, Faust Pizza 明月光披薩

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tqtNbtWJmw

Cafe de France
台北市仁愛路四段502號
502 Renai Rd, Taipei
+886 2 27298860
每天營業
open every day

老闆娘人很好
空間（室內/戶外）很舒適
點心和餐點都OK
價錢也合理
加上可以把隔壁的pizza帶來吃
真是一個好地方呀

The owner is nice, setting is comfortable (both inside and out), food is not bad, price is acceptable and on top of that, I can bring over pizza from next door. A pretty good combination!

Mom, Dad and I have have been here quite a few times. The pizza's really good and the cafe is a great place where we can sit in comfort and order side dishes, drinks and desserts to complement the pizza.

However, I just couldn't figure out why the pizza place owner was so adamant about us not showing any little bit of his pizza on TV. When he declined over the phone to let us film his cooks making pizza, I told him that I understand and in this case, I will not shoot the pizza making process nor introduce his pies, and that the story is not about them or their product. Then he had one of his guys come out and say to me, in the middle of filming next door, "we will sell you pizza if it is for yourself to eat. But we will not sell it to you if it is for filming. Do not let any part of our pizza appear on TV." Although I was uncomfortable with being dictated what to do with something I'm paying for (yes, I paid the regular price of TWD180 for the margherita), I decided to do what he said anyway. I censored the pizza. What we normally censor are logos, store names, the face of abused children or gory bloody body parts. But pizza from Faust on Renai Road is now on the list too. By the way, I wonder what they tell people who eat there. "Leave your cameras and cell phones at the door, please?" Sheez. Well, for kicks (and maybe revenge) here are the Google results of blogs/articles on Faust Pizza 明月光, in English and in Chinese. I  didn't know what I wanted more - to laugh or to go and argue with the guy.

Lucky for us, there were plenty of tables at the cafe who bought and brought over their pizza. Today, filming was more fun than tasting. The margherita is sitting in my refrigerator, still whole, untouched. Breakfast tomorrow, maybe.

Taiwanese version of the story below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P71k1H0o-jg

Taiwan's Ruby Assam Black Tea 台湾の紅玉紅茶

One of those little things that can make life so enjoyable sometimes. This is Ruby Assam Black Tea from Sun Moon Lake. The leaves are not chopped like most black teas, so it looks just like oolong or green tea. It tastes light and sweet and makes me happy. Give it a try sometime!

日月潭の紅茶です。普通の紅茶と違って、台湾の紅茶の茶葉は切っていません。ストレートのままです。条型ですので、ウーロン茶や緑茶と同じ形です。

この日月潭の紅玉台茶１８号は渋みが少なくて、飲みやすいです。飲むと機嫌がよくなる。飲んでみませんか？

There are lots of black tea farmers, but this one is from:
南投縣魚池鄉新城村香茶巷31－10號
+886 933 475 771
+886 49 289 5763
#31-10 Xiangcha Street, Xincheng Village, Yuchi Township, Nantou County

高記 - 貴婦菜市場裡的豪華小吃

今晚和爸媽又去吃了


http://youtu.be/uijdZtr19Pg

松阪豬豆干 神豬滷肉飯 豪華小吃
貴婦菜市場裡的豪華小吃
雖然只是些快炒，小吃
但每次都被老闆和老闆娘用心的態度深深感動

台北市士林區士東路100號(士東市場2樓244攤)
＋886 2 2834 7155

Amei 張惠妹 (not Amit 阿密特) to release new record

There's something about Amei that puts me at ease when in the same room with her. I don't know her personally, nor have I ever done a one-on-one interview with her, but somehow I feel very comfortable around her.

http://youtu.be/PuKaH4_ENlA

Song in this story: 我最親愛的
CD release date: 23 April 2011
Goodbye Amit, hello again Amei!

Lines lines and more lines at the Flora Expo

Would really be great if there was a solution so that people wouldn't have to bake in the sun (or rain). I'd for sure get heat stroke.

http://youtu.be/Lz7g4ri6ynE

20110421 花博現場表演 就是得現場排隊
那位媽媽好可愛，雖然生氣，但對插隊阿媽還算客氣
這則新聞幫孫濬和黃啟豪做的

A century of songs from Taiwan

Part of the centennial celebration of the founding of the Republic of China. I wonder what the medley will sound like when it's completed in June. Although all celebrated, these are ten very different songs from different periods of the past century, not to mention in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and indigenous dialects. There will be other songs recorded in the CD as well. The Council for Cultural Affairs says the CD will be provided free, and may be downloaded from the internet as well.

http://youtu.be/06opdSi9pus

預計六月出爐
歌手包括紀露霞, 紀曉君, 官靈芝, 王彩樺, 楊培安, 鄒女

Bao An Temple festival

A story I did this past Sunday. The Bao An Temple Festival is going on now.

保生大帝1033歲生日，台北大龍峒保安宮盛大舉行獻三禮祭典
保安文化祭為期兩個月，晚上燈光特別漂亮，適合拍照
旁邊還有孔廟，周遭都挺乾淨，相當不錯的散步，拍照地區
Baoan Temple is nicely lit up at night, and great for pictures. Confucius Temple is just around the corner, and the streets are kept quite clean. Makes for a nice walk.
２０１１年４月１７日は保生大帝１０３３歳のお誕生日でした。台北保安宮の保安文化祭がこの二ヶ月間で行われていて、夜のイルミネーションは特にきれいで、撮影にはいいか もしれません。、孔子廟もすぐ隣なので、お散歩のいいところだと思います。

Tyler Rosso, good looking, English-speaking swim coach in Taipei

This is Tyler Rosso 羅宇唐. Swim coach, model, English teacher in Taipei. You can find him giving swimming classes at the Sungshan Sports Center.

What a Mister Handsome. He also seems very kind, too. I hope we can help him out again when he launches his business.

Here are the videos, in Mandarin and Taiwanese.

Capturing DTV clips and getting back on track

My nerdiness has gotten the best of me, and after trying various devices and decoder/encoders, I think I've figured out the most efficient/easiest combination of hardware and software to capture and archive my reports and anchoring (for now). I am currently using an AverMedia (thanks, Ann) digital TV USB tuner hooked up to my Mac (either at home or work), an mpeg-2 plugin for Quicktime to be able to view the captured clip and Mpeg Streamclip to compress the clip in H.264 at 60%. Though the process is still a little tedious, the resolution and efficiency are much higher than the archaic TiVo/cable/wifi combination I was using before.

I don't know what has gotten into me. I even set up my Big Mac at home so that I can remotely access it with my Baby Mac when I'm at work or in the field. Gross.

And I cleaned my room and my desk at the office to the point where I'm almost satisfied. My goodness.

It looks like my life might actually be getting back to normal. For now.

This is a report I did (in Mandarin and Taiwanese) yesterday. Former Health Minister Yaung Chih-Liang went on radio to again reveal bits and pieces of corruption in the healthcare system, a mess that he started cleaning up during his term and is finally seeing criminal investigation and prosecution taking place.

Magnolia and cherry blossom 木蓮花與櫻花 木蓮と桜

The magnolias said to the cherry blossoms,

"Look at us, we have bloomed. Now you try it, you can do it too."

Life may be tough, but it goes on.

If we feel weak, we can follow the strong.

Michella Jade

Chidorigafuchi, Tokyo

3 April 2011

木蓮花說 ：

「櫻花櫻花！有沒有看到呀？我們綻放了喔。你也試試看，你一定也可以。」

人生有時候很艱辛，不過地球依然在轉動。

感覺無力時，不用害怕，身邊一定有人伸出援手，帶我們一起向前走。

郁容
東京千鳥之淵
2011年4月3日

木蓮が桜につぶやきました。

「見て見て、私たち咲きましたよ。あなたも頑張って、絶対咲けるから！」

人生は辛いかもしれないけど、春はもうすぐそこです、もう一頑張りしましょう。

気弱になってる時は、強いものから力を借りるのもいいわね。

Japanese translation by Judy

This was the first poetic sounding thing I have ever written in my life. What do you think? Well, I kind of like it. The Japanese translation is good too.