'Extraordinary Measures' doesn't come clean

RE CNA story 5/25/10 on Harrison Ford movie in The China Post Dear Harrison Ford, As one of the great actors of the 20th century (and maybe the 21st century as well), you are very much admired by film-goers in Taiwan and all of Asia — in fact, all over

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Dear MeiGui: My girlfriend is insanely superstitious

Dear MeiGui; My girlfriend is insanely superstitious, and I don’t know what to do about it. I have been working as an English teacher for the last few months, but my actual education is in finance. I came to Taiwan looking for a break, and financial crisis and all –

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What's That Pho? In Remembrance of Loan Words Past

Parlez-vous Francais? French ‘loan words’ in Vietnam hark back to old colonial days by Danielo [Le] Bloom- [icelli] (Also published in the New York Times travel section) Pho is a French word? Who knew? One of the most popular dishes from Vietnam to make it to restaurant tables around the

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A Pre-emptive Music Scoop: Scott Phipps

By Trista di Genova Staff Writer In September 2008, I interviewed for The China Post a clean-cut, charismatic Canadian entrepreneur in Taiwan who had started his own UN-consultative organization, Clean Development Group (CDG). I met him at The Wild East art exhibition, and later he was the perfect interview subject

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Canadian brings power to the people with clean technologies

By Trista di Genova Staff Writer Toronto native Scott Phipps came to Taiwan with a mission. After graduating from the London School of Economics with a master’s degree in Communication and Development, he consulted governments, then worked with academia, NGOs and international organizations – and the private sector. “As impetus

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We pop the question to Taiwan's 'young heavenly king'

Jay Chou is the emperor of Mando-pop. But does he plan to conquer the West, too? By Trista di Genova STAFF REPORTER Westerners react to the music of Jay Chou (周杰倫) in one of two ways. They either see it as an introduction to Chinese language and culture; or they

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'New' Curriculum Ideas for Taiwan

Dear Taipei Times, I am a lecturer at National Taiwan University (NTU), but I also have had the opportunity to teach toddlers, elementary, high school and college students over the past two years. Regarding English instruction, it seems a pity that only parents who can afford Ivy-League tuition rates can

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Taiwan tries to untangle mangled (but fun) Chinglish

By Dan Bloom, The Wild East Taiwan’s Commission for the Management of Language Use’s mission is to get rid of Chinglish, which irks fans of the island nation’s linguistic maladaptations For English speakers with subpar Mandarin Chinese language skills, daily life in Taiwan offers a confounding array of choices. At

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Night of Heaven at the Edge of Anarchy, Part 2

By The Bangkok Banshee The Wild East Magazine Even in the absence of patrons I decided that I could at least splash back a few cocktails and just “be,” as I could not bear the thought of another lackluster night as a homebound shut-in. A few cocktails later one brave

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Lowdown Leaves Qingdao

By Jonathan Chandler The Wild East Magazine Magpies… What was it? One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, hundreds of the frockers, a glut. A glut of magpies – building their intricate stick houses the size of an ayatollah’s turban, or a B52 beehive on the just-budding

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