tourism

Questions for Further discussion:
1. Are you participating in any activity of the Golden Horse Film
    Festival this year?
2. How do you feel about the Golden Horse Awards?
3. What's your opinion about the blockbusters of Hollywood and local films?
4. How much time do you spend on watching TV per week?
6. Do you prefer to go to the movies or watch TV? Why?
7. Have you gone to the National Theater to watch a performance? What was your experience?
8. Why didn't you go to see a performance?
9. Do you think Cloud Gate Dance is too difficult for you?

Topic One (prepared by Lily)
Question: Do you support the four TV stations (TTV, CTV, CTS, Formosa TV) or cable TV, Why?

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Cable TV

The advantages:
1. More choices for audiences: a lot of various programs to see,
    and over 70 satellite or cable TV channels in the world
2. More Information: update information and learn more from it, you
   can see events around the world as and when they happen
3. Competition: Stimulate the market, cable companies will improve
    themselves, and viewers have better programs to see…

The disadvantages:
1. Subscription fee: you should pay extra money to most satellite
    and cable companies …
2. The quality is poor: some violent and sexual programs, the
    quality of programs are not equal…
3. Too many commercials: the satellite companies want to earn
    more money, the quality of commercials are not always good…
4. Watching TV is a waste of time: when you watch TV, you always
   watch one program after another, switch and forget the time.

Topic Two

The Taipei 1998 Golden Horse Film Festival

    The arrival of the 1998 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival officially ends this year's Hollywood blockbuster season. Now, let's sum up what we've seen in the past days. We saw New York was destroyed three times, twice by giant flying objects from outer space and once by giant green lizard. We also saw Jim Carrey living his life in a television studio and TV FBI agents Mulder and Scully track down an alien hideout on the big screen. Good, it's all out of our systems. Time now is for some serious cinema. We have no excuse not to see a good movie in November and December.
    This year's Golden Horse Film Festival runs for two weeks from
November 28 to December 12 and spotlights over 100 of the best
international films. Whatever your style, the Golden Horse will
accommodate. The Golden Horse Film Festival, now nearing its forth decade of existence. It really provides Taipei residents relief from a summer of Hollywood explosions. If you don't catch some great films now, you will have to wait another year. The Golden Horse's strong point comes from its wide selection of films from across the world. As usual, the country with the strongest representation in the festival is Japan.
   This year's festival features a retrospective of director-actor Takeshi Kitano's work, the Japanese master of pulp fiction on screen.   Hana-bi, Kitano's latest work, will definitely be one of the hottest tickets in town. For English-speaking foreigners, living in Taipei, the best aspect of the Golden Horse Film Festival is the wide range of the English-language films playing in the festival, such as Ulee's Gold, Men With Guns, Twenty-Four Seven or Mrs. Dalloway. How about documentaries? The only documentaries most of us have seen are the ones on the Discovery channel. However, around the world, exists many documentary filmmaking. The best documentaries not only document reality but call the very reality into question. For example, Waco:The Rules of Engagement is about the FBI's botched handling of a standoff between its agents and a religious cult.
    If you only want to immerse yourself in all things Chinese, then,
don't miss the Golden Horse Awards on December 12 in the Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall. The Golden Horse Awards is Asia's equivalent of the Oscars. All the best Chinese-language films of the past year compete for the prestigious honor of taking home the Golden Horse. Of course, in this important banquet, many actors, actresses, singers or authorities will show up, too, such as Tony Leungs, Andy Lau and so on. These luminaries
will all receive the full red carpet treatment.
     To sum up, we can see New York City destroyed any day; however, the Golden Horse only comes to town once a year. As a result, if you have time, go to see these films and try some different tastes.

Topic Three

Pictures of Cloud Gate Dance:

"Water Moon" mirrors Lin Hwai-mi's Fascination with taichi movements By Nancy T. Lu The China Post

    Slow, relaxed, continuous and smooth movements sup up the latest piece of choreography by Lin Hwai-min for the Cloud Gate dancers. In short, "Moon Water" revolves around taichi. The moon is the quiet kind given to meditation. Choreographer Lin relates "Moon Water" to the ideal state of taichi practitioners when energy flows like water and the spirit shines like a moon.
    The dancers, all dressed in white silk, move on a black dance floor painted with white strokes to suggest water pattern frozen in time. The men and women wade through a series of motions very slowly to the emotional strains of J.S. Bach' Suites for Solo Cello.
Hanging overhead to the right of the stage at the National Theater is a mirror of sorts. As the dance progresses, the rear side of the stage opens to reveal an entire wall of mirrors. Towards the end, water flows into the scene. The dancers in the limelight carry on suggestions of taichi exercises. The sight of splashing water suddenly convinces the viewers that his or her sense of hearing does not deceive him or her. Dancing bodies carry on in the instant pool of delight. Lin Hwai-min has made it known that he is making studies of the real verses the unreal, effort as against effortlessness, as well as the yin and the yang in Water Moon. The Cloud Gate Dance Theater will present the world premiere of Lin Hwai-min's Water Moon at the National Theater in Taipei on Nov. 18.