Yesterday was the last day of the Lantern Festival…
Yesterday was the last day of the Lantern Festival down at CKS Hall, and I was going down there anyway to see Adaptation on the awful projection screen at The Source. The movie was ok, a lot simpler and less clever than most of the critics had intimated. Nick Cage was impressive. I suppose I should see it at a proper resolution to enjoy it, but as I wasn’t all that impressed with Being John Malkovich, I think I’ll probably come away after this one with a similar feeling of a really good idea done in a mediocre manner.
Sacrilage! You are no doubt crying. This guy puts down such great directors as Spike Jonze and Martin Scorcese when all he can do is Alphadogah? I know, I know. For all of you just tuning in, I’m a hypocritical bastard.
After the movie, Alien and I went over to see the Lanterns, which were nice. Usually they have a big paper representation of the animal on display in the middle of the square, but all we saw was a pair of horns sticking out of a round stage. Either they’re getting more minimalist in their design, or the horns were all that were left after a hungry paper giant had the goat for dinner.
All of the stands were packing up their wares. We passed by one stall that had brass statues, including a beautiful bronze representation of Poagao, The Poagao, Sun Wu-kong hisself, brandishing a stick and standing on his Flying Cloud Gendoyun. The pricetag said NT$7,700, but Alien said I should see if they’d bargain, it being the last day and the statue being exceptionally heavy.
After a little bargaining I got it for just over NT$1,000. I know, I shouldn’t be spending money on stuff like this, but I like it, and it could also come in handy for bashing in the brains of any potential intruders. We continued on to see a puppet busy mixing roasted chestnuts, and I took a small video that is a strong candidate for the next Sight of the Moment in a few days’ time.
Afterwards we walked over to DV8, where Alien treated me to a Bailey’s sans milk. Two Russian guys sat next to us chatting while Alien and the bartender gossiped. Carl’s subsequent arrival wasn’t the coincidence it seemed as he lives nearby, but it was a welcome break from the combination of Russian and gossip.
Finished up the translation job I’d been working on for the past couple of days. I might be taking on a second job, with welcome added income, starting in March.In fact, recent developments in the work situation have caused me to amend my housing-search plans, which might have to be put on hold while I get everything sorted out as far as income goes. Also, my landlord might try to get another guy to install new windows, if it turns out to be cheap enough. I did go see another place today, mainly just to go for a walk and get out of the house after spending all morning and part of the afternoon trying to get the comments for the Chinese blog working. As I was walking back up Fuxing South Road, I hear the screeching of tires up the street, and when I walked over to see what was going on, I saw that there had been either a most peculiar accident or someone who was simultaneously more ambitious and less adept at parking than most people here.
If you like online comics, go read Same Difference by Derek Dirk Kim. Really well-done stuff. Thanks to Ernie for the link.
