Like I said. Stormtrooper on a bicycle. Yes, it’s the Deaflympics closing ceremony.
Tag: Taipei
-
Stormtrooper on a Bicycle
-
Wake Boarding Taiwan
Wave riderNick had the genius to book a day of wake boarding in west Taipei, near Wugu. After incessant requests from my sister to go while in the UK, I finally had the opportunity to bite the bullet, and ‘shred the rad’, as we wake boarders say. It took a few attempts to get up on my feet, but after that it was fun in the sun. A perfect activity for an oppressively humid day in Taipei, and one that I would like to repeat in the near future. Add to that this morning’s mountain bike ride, and I had a real ‘action’ weekend … and my body aches to prove it.
The price of old rope
Sneak pics
Taipei Yacht Club
Beautiful clear water – just don’t touch the bottom.
Rear view mirror
Views to the mountains / motor ways. It was nice to see Taipei from a different angle …
… which I did. Several times.
Rocket man. -
Window Undressing
Walking home after a late night in the office, and I stumbled across a window being re-dressed at Sogo. Or undressed, perhaps. Flickr. -
X Beyond O : Calligraphy – Sign – Space
School daysIn contrast to last weekend, which was an alcohol-fueled romp through Taipei’s early mornings, I decided this weekend to be a little more civilised, and thus lined up a morning of Mountain Biking (sweaty), followed by a rather more cultured stroll around the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei.
I turned up to quite a large exhibit of modern interpretations of Chinese calligraphy, called X Beyond O: Calligraphy – Sign – Space. I have seen my fair share of ‘modern China’ style exhibitions on this type of subject, but they wowed with some really very memorable pieces, including projection of characters onto graffiti’d-up school desks, piles of paper with laser-cut symbols running through and fun and games with the increasingly ubiquitous multi-touch displays.
I am still somewhat blown away by the main space, however. A huge ink pad – and I mean huge; about the size of a tennis court – flanked by a scroll and brushes on one side. Dimly lit and perfectly reflective, it really was rather a special space.
I can’t pretend to be able to penetrate these deeper aspects of the culture – especially written culture – but I do think I can appreciate it none-the-less, and certainly enjoy it. I say that, as the Chinese I have been learning over the last few years is bring ground to dust, replaced by the mental effort required to survive at Dell!
Hidden images, projected into a brightly-lit room
… which entailed running around the room attempting to capture and focus the characters on Chinese fans … one reference too far?
The main exhibition space. None more black.
Reflecting. -
Fixed Gear Taiwan 2.0
2 wheels good. 4 wheels better. 6 wheels best.
… my third bike in Taiwan, courtesy of Ken, it’s already been modded with white grips and new saddle. I still need to put some proper KM on it, but isn’t it pretty?!
Checking the scene at PS Tapas in Taipei -
Pockets of Design # 1
Favourite Local BuildingsIn my bid to pay a little more attention to my surroundings, I have decided to photograph and document some of the things that I like the most in my local area, but that I see regularly – maybe the most difficult things to appreciate.
For me, this manages to be ‘Taiwanese’, speaking in a vernacular of concrete and harsh angles. The desire to customise individual treatment of air conditioning and external facades is somewhat channeled, and who can argue with the stripes of magenta, and might-I-say awesome lightening bolt foyer? This building makes me smile.
-
Taipei a-Wanderin’
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
Since I have now been in Taiwan an improbably long FIVE YEARS, and on top of that broke one year at Dell, I thought I would go and treat myself to a new camera lens. I somehow managed to misplace my old 50mm F1.8, so thought I would take the plunge and get the F1.4 upgrade. Abe, my flat mate, has the F1.2, which is an amazing piece of glass to be sure, but it’s a bit big for carrying for long periods, and I didn’t have a spare kidney to sell.I am quite enjoying it so far, and also bought a polarising filter for my 24-105 L, since I thought I would be more likely to do landscape images with that one. All good fun.
Triple-double reflections
This picture was interesting, not for the thing itself (I rather liked the yellow tape while waiting for food), but for the reaction of one of the passers-by. He leaned in, asked me what I was taking a photo of, and when I explained ‘of the yellow tape’ snorted indignantly and strutted off.
There were some pretty serious anti-government marches this weekend, and I spotted the minor result of one of the rallies – they had crossed out the ‘Chinese’ on the Deaflympics signs. That’ll teach ’em!
Lane positioning
Building at rest -
Taipei Has Eyes
Walking away from buying a new lens, I was amused by this underpass and the faces that jumped up at me as I walked up and down the steps.
-
Deaflympics Parade
Beijing gets the Olympics. Taipei gets the Deaflympics. Or is that being unfair?
Anyway, some sort of opening ceremony was passing by at the end of my street, so I grabbed my camera and was met with a Batman-esque (Tim Burton vintage) floating barrage balloon parade. Sports shoes, frogs, sea horses … and all guarded by a team of Star Wars’ Storm Troopers. It just makes so much sense.
Frog (the mascot) I understand (although why choose a frog? What do they have to do with hearing impairment?) Training shoe; I understand. Sea horse? …
Storm Troopers. Yup.
Storm Troopers avec floating training shoe. Use the force!
These are not the droids you are looking for. -
Birthday Redux
It’s useful being friends with designers and photographers; they have a habit of injecting that extra element of quality into capturing events. In my case, I was lucky enough to have Abe shooting away on his rig, and Gerhard & Klara mounting their time-lapse cam in the corner of the room – lovely.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377
Kicking off proceedings was dinner at my favourite local ‘restaurant’ – the getto shrimp van at the end of the street. We grabbed, wine glasses, bread and candles, and created a few raised eyebrows, dining to the sounds of music and shrimps being fried with a hairdryer. As the parking lot filled up, we decamped to the apartment, where a super spread of friends gathered to wish me well as I successfully managed to circumnabulate the Sun 30 times.On top of that, I am now the proud owner of a 20″ Apple Cinema display, which is significantly more pleasant to work on – to the point that I am pretty sure I am processing more photos for upload to Flickr now, and the blog. Awesome.
Nick and I discuss vases
Really special to have the HK crew in town. Appreciated!
Candlelit / neon – lit supper
Strike a pose.
Onizou Idea Nomads in Town
Shrimp pots.
A very special cooking style – eat your heart out, Heston.
Make a wish!
The team.
Champers.
After managing to offload this trash to Sam last year, it managed to find its way back here. Someone will pay for this!