when peter and i were in taichung i noticed a familiar name on the cover of a taiwanese design magazine. it turned out it was no mistake, my friend james had been interviewed by x-cup magazine as part of their “foreign creators in taiwan” issue. initially i was a bit unimpressed with the magazine. i suspect a lot of this has to do with the fact that i found the cover art hideous(aren’t big breasted skimpily dressed women passe?) which influenced my initial thumbing through the magazine.
after my first thumb through, i wondered why poagao wasn’t in it. but upon closer inspection he is in it, they just call him t.c. lin. after i realized he was in it, i wondered does he count as a foreigner? he’s the only foreigner i can think of who has become a taiwanese citizen. at the top of his interview it says “i’m taiwanese!”. in the end i don’t think it really matters. oddly, i think the pictures of his they included aren’t neccesarily his strongest.
of the other foreigners included the three i found most interesting were keith jones, harley smart and michael davidson. they have an illustration style i quite like. i was also happy to see syko song was in here. i believe he organized a film camera show up in taipei last year which i would have really liked to have seen.
something i knew about when i lived in taipei, which i feel even more strongly since moving to southern taiwan is how taipei centric most things in taiwan are(this often results in taipei people being arrogant and cold). this magazine seems no different. surely there must be creative foreigners living outside taipei. this last weekend a foreign friend of peter’s called. and he asked peter how i liked tainan. peter said “william hates taipei now”. i corrected him and said “i don’t hate taipei” but it’s certainly taken a nosedive since i’ve moved south. now taipei is just shopping, movies, museums but not much more. if i didn’t have friends there, i don’t know if i’d be so eager to take trips up there.
May 2, 2007 at 11:11 am
I was surprised as well that they wanted to feature those particular photos. I think they just wanted something with a concrete theme. I mentioned to them at the outset that, technically speaking, I wasn’t a foreigner, but they didn’t seem to think it was all that important.
But now that the HSR is here, I really should make more trips to the south. I still like Taipei, even though it seems many foreigners who live in the south like to disparage it.
May 2, 2007 at 11:45 am
for me i didn’t realize how much i didn’t like taipei until i left. i was a bit surprised by this actually. it’s nice to be able to go to the movies and not have to worry about people chatting on their cell phones during the screening – something which was becoming more and more impossible in taipei.
May 2, 2007 at 9:55 pm
That happened all the time when I was living in Hsinchu; I don’t see Taipei as any worse in that respect. In fact, I’d say it’s better here.
May 3, 2007 at 12:33 pm
i’ve never gone to the movies in hsinchu, i just know here in tainan(at least so far) the film going experience is much nicer.
May 8, 2007 at 10:54 am
ah! you got a copy. hehe, the cover was kinda scary this month. just what i wanted on my coffee table, a picture of a big breasted cartoon woman.
i also am getting tired of taipei. specifically the pollution and the long work hours. if we didn’t like our apartment so much, i think we’d be looking for a place down south.
May 8, 2007 at 11:03 am
well, your apartment does rock. that’s for sure. aside from the evil doer that lives next to you.