9/09/10 Hualien Public Radio: Round II

The time had come for my second guest appearance on Hualien’s public radio station.  This week Space and I chose Faith No More as the subject band, but we would also discuss some other elements of Mike Patton’s broad catalogue of work since Faith No More hadn’t done anything of significance after his departure.  This was in sharp contrast to the rest of the band’s history where an ever changing lineup did nothing to stop their momentum and output.  But if was clear that Faith No More was forever tied to Patton and any attempts to replace him would be fruitless: think of the misguided Van Halen experiment with Gary Cherone.

We started off the show with some of the more well known tracks like Epic, Midlife Crisis and Strip Search; then we changed gears with Easy to show their versatility, and then completely blew Jacob’s mind with their German beer barrel polka entitled Das Schuztenfest… loosely translated as “The Fuckfest”.  The show became even stranger when we played a lullaby from hell put out by the Patton fronted Fantomas.  It was a rendition of the theme song to the movie “Rosemary’s Baby”.  I can’t be sure, but I think that Jacob, good Christian that he is, might have nightmares for a few days because of the last one.

Space and I agreed that this had been a better show; I preferred Faith No More to Guns n’ Roses, and Space didn’t have a song like “Rocket Queen” to go crazy over and lose his train of thought in the process.  I had entered the realm of music snobbery.

9/09/10 Vodka for breakfast: even better than you think

Taiwan had turned out to be a fruit lover’s paradise, the kind of fruit that they charge an arm and a leg to get at home.  Case in point: passion fruit; the actual fruit, not the girl.  In Canada, you can expect to pay $2.00 each; here, you get a bag of 12 for about the same price.  Needless to say, I had seized the opportunity and was on passion fruit overload – 6 or 7 each morning.  And then today it hit me: a little slice off the bottom so it would stand up on its own, open up the top so it became a cup, add vodka, stir and enjoy.  Space and Iris were suspicious yet intrigued; unfortunately they declined to take part in my culinary experiment since they had to teach… and Iris would have been hammered.  I had no such restrictions so 2 of my 5 passion fruits were the vodka shooter type.  The results were predictably amazing.  It was tart and crunchy because of the seeds without a trace of alcohol burn.  I may have found a replacement for lemon gin in the category of “disguised alcohol”.

9/09/10 A reminder for my final week

I awoke to a sad message from a good friend about the tragedy of a personal loss; it reminded me to enjoy every moment I was spending here.  Life is short and there’s no time to waste.  I had done well so far, but I recommitted myself to making every day amazing.  A tough task today considering some absolutely miserable skies; I would rise above it.

9/08/10 Random photos #12

Steel recycling plant aka environmental disaster zone

Marble cutting

The clumsy army leaves their identical bags behind
How do they know which one is theirs?

Fish market security guard

Welcome to the "Ugly Shirt Store"

9/08/10 How much for a coffee?

After another visit to the fish market at the harbour for some sushi it began to rain heavily.  Since I was behind on my journal I retreated to the local Starbucks to get a cup of familiar coffee.  Although I’m aware of the conversion rate between the Taiwanese and Canadian dollars, one can’t be helped when the barrista says “one grande americano, $95”.  One already has trouble getting change back from a $20 in Canada, can the days of $100 coffee be far off?

9/08/10 Building an Army

I saw something so strange while out on the motorcycle that I had to turn back.  In the stands of a running track behind a school I saw a sea of blue uniforms.  There were at least a couple of hundred young men about to take a phys-ed class from the most boring teacher I had ever heard.  Although their uniformity and sheer numbers made them look like an army, their movements revealed them to be the most uncoordinated group of young men in history.  Baseball is accepted as Taiwan’s national sport, but unofficially it’s on-line gaming.  Looking at this group of “soldiers”, it shows.

9/08/10 Hairstylist Rendezvous

I ran into my Taiwanese hairstylist on the street.  He smiled and said hello.  His co-workers also noticed me and many of them smiled and laughed.  I’m convinced they are still talking about the stupidity of blow drying my hair.