Pili Puppets 霹靂

You can not flip through the channels here and not see Pili Puppets  霹靂 on somewhere. From my first moments here, Z and I were pretty mesmerized (well at least for a few minutes). I appreciate how Taiwan has preserved Chinese cultural history. When Fujian immigrants came to Taiwan and intermarried with the indigenous, they brought their hand puppets and their old Taoist/Gong Fu legends and stories. Taiwan has taken this folk art to the next level, an international TV series and film (Legend of the Sacred Stone).

The Taoyuan airport has this incredible exhibition of the Pili Puppets of Taiwan. As I was checking in at Singapore Air, there on the  TV monitors were the Pili puppets explaining the airport's rules and regulations using their typical drama. I found it entertaining at 4 in the morning.

The  Roles/Characters:
The Sheng Role生 has the three variations: The Elegant scholar (wen sheng), the man with martial arts skills (wu sheng) and the older male (lao sheng).


The Dan character is the female role and has four variations: The young, unmarried, mischievous adventurer (xiao dan), the refined daughter from a wealthy family (zheng dan), the elderly woman (lao dan) and the comical female character (chou dan).

Su Huan Jeng素還真

Fei Yu Yuan J

The Mo role末is the elderly man character and has to variations, the man who speaks (bai kuo) and the ones who don’t speak (cun gong).

Hao KunL

The Jing character 淨 is the face painted role. A race painted red means he is loyal, if yellow, honest, black represents a violent temper and green signifies a villain.



Luo Huo

The Chou character丑is the clown and usually has a white spot painted on the nose.  He/she is also called the ‘little white flower’ (xiao hua lian) and there are four types; the female comic relief (chou dan), the military chou, the literary chou, and the regular chou.

Qin Jia Xian

葉小釵Ye hairpin, xiao chai(scar) is the most tragic and popular character. His famous nickname is “crazy sword” or ” mad blade” he is a silent swordsman. His shoulder length white hair and the slash of a sword on his face make him more distinctive. His unbeatable fighting techniques make him the number one warrior.

Animation Collective developed Wulin Warriors for American television, created the show bible and episode scripts and 13 half-hour episodes, which premiered on Cartoon Network in February '06. Check out the opening theme song below:

Some of the characters from the series人名：

Su Huan-jen 素還真

Su Hsu-lu 素續緣

Feng Tsai-ling 風采鈴

Ye Hsiao-chai 葉小釵

Jian Jun 劍君

Luan Shi Kuang-dao 亂世狂刀

Ching Yang-zi 青陽子

Mou Kuei 魔魁

Hua Jue Bai-lian 花爵百鍊生

The Mysterious Swordsman 神秘劍客

Mysterious Maiden 神秘女郎 (不可思議的少女 ^_^)

Thousand Mountain ancient woodsman 千山樵老 (一千個山頭的老樵夫 ^_^)

Heaven Lifter 擎天子 (上帝舉起者???，這個譯法有點敏感，會不會

引起耶穌的抗議呀?)

Little Metal 小金剛 (小金屬 ^_^)

Hai Hsi-jun 海殤君

Wu Wang Tian-zi 無忌天子

Han Tan Leng Yue Du Chue Ying 寒潭冷月渡鶴影 (好長的名字呀~~~)

Mr. Boneskin (Lord Jian) 骨皮先生 (劍上卿)

Jian Ru-bing 劍如冰



Seven Creation Knights 造世七俠

Eight Sky Tiger Generals 天虎八將



The settings地名：

Porcelain Celestial Land 琉璃仙境 (陶瓷天地? How about Lazurite Fairyland?)

Mouth of the Dragon Saint 聖龍口 (龍之聖徒口)

Ancient Labyrinth 耆老迷 (老人迷宮 ^_^)

Gao Lin Residence 篙棘居

Circle of Justice 天外方界 (正義界???)

Wujian village 鳴劍山莊


http://www.pili.com.tw/en
http://www.animationcollective.com/wulin.html
http://bbs.nsysu.edu.tw/txtVersion/treasure/palmardrama/M.984147607.A/M.984147755.D.html

Chinese New Year To Me

Chinese New Year to me means new door gods at 7-11. The whole world washed in red and gold paper decorations, the stores selling traditional Chinese clothing, and red underwear for that important, auspicious first day. I enjoy making Chinese New Year arts and crafts with my class. We have flying dragons floating all around our classroom. My front door has a single character for "blessing"  fu 福 which hung upside down means "coming". Its not like I went out and bought it, the book store gave it to me for free. What I do buy every year around this time from the bookstore is this packet of 12 Chinese prints based on the coming new year animal. This includes for example, posters of paper cuttings, art, calligraphy, the chronology of the dragon in Chinese cultural history.

Chinese Paper cutting

Here is an interesting video on some of the origins of Chinese New Year’s customs and the Nian story:

For my Taiwanese friends it is their Christmas. The whole family gets together and eats auspicious sounding foods, the names of fish, pineapple and orange sound similar to lucky words in Mandarin. Red envelopes full of money are given. There is a protocol, the night before, the first day, actually every day, whose house to go over. I think the universal practice is to clean the whole house (out with the old in with the new) and wear new clothes inside and out.

I was at my Chinese “parents” home tonight and they were with their friends playing (betting) Mahjong. They gave Z a red envelope. They invited us to watch fireworks at the City Council building, but Z pretty much detests fireworks up close (and she lives in Tainan!).

Now it’s the year of the dragon, supposedly auspicious for everyone. There is an old story about the Chinese 12 zodiac animals below. Gong xi fa cai from me and Z!

My Chinese New Year Read: The summer before the Dark

My holiday read was this Doris Lessing novel “The Summer before the Dark.” It was fascinating. I wonder if it has been turned into a film yet and googled it and didn’t see any –yet. I see myself writing the screenplay, Jane Campion the director. The ideal actress would be Julianne Moore as Kate and Amanda Siegfried as Maureen but they have done similar characters together, it would be too formulaic. I would go with another actress, someone like Diane Lane as Kate and Santiago Cabrera as Jeffrey.

It would be fun to be on set in Istanbul, London, Spain. I enjoyed the bits on international travel, travelers, holiday as I was on the road myself. Even more interesting were the themes of growing old, female identity based on youth and attractiveness, marriage, infidelity, motherhood, freedom and loneliness. A searing passage into middle age, the mourning of lost youth. I could sense this, what is just around the corner as I read this on the eve of my 37th birthday. It’s a woman’s midlife crisis in London early 1970’s.

Although it takes place in the 70’s I think these themes as well as the issues of socioeconomic inequality and street protests particularly poignant. Also the storyline of working for the UN, these well-educated, over paid policy makers still relevant. The entire story could easily be taken place now.

As I was reading Kate’s journey I asked myself will she pull herself together by the end of it, when she reunites with her family? If not, then what? I also appreciate Lessing’s admiration for the importance of dreams. Kate’s dream life is so much a part of her journey, I get that, I have always talked about my dreams. It would be fun for a filmmaker to incorporate that whole seal dream motif, I see the snow, hear the Icelandic, otherworldly music. It is shocking this hasn’t been made into film yet. I might just write the screenplay as a sort of writing exercise, my new creative project for the New Year.

The Triumph Of Tebow: God is a Bronco Fan

Everyone in Colorado has known for years, that God is in fact a Broncos fan. It is just recently the rest of the country is finally learning. Ok I've been a Bronco fan through and through, grew up watching Elway. I am just so fascinated by the whole Tebow phenomenon, this national conversation about Jesus and faith. 

His Christmas card was the top selling one on e-bay this year, his jersey is the 2nd highest selling in the NFL now (Z got one for Christmas from Grandpa).  Tebow hasn't even won a Superbowl but he already has a best selling book out. Ok so I am not back in Denver in the thick of it, I am living here in Tainan and read the papers, talk to my family on Skype, I caught the 3rd quarter of their last OT game, so I am very removed. Still its interesting to me.

 

Obviously I am cheering him on. It has been amazing watching the various reactions; the anti-Christian backlash (Bill Maher the notorious atheist for example) or even from Christians themselves who believe faith should be compartmentalized to the private sphere (Terrell Suggs).

There was that funny SNL skit that caused an uproar, with tight ass believers, i.e. Pat Robertson's total lame reaction. No wonder people are turned off by Jesus if people like Robertson are the loudest believers out there. I have faith Jesus has a better sense of humor than Pat Robertson. Tebow himself found the skit funny. Jesus was a man who hung out with rough and uncouth fisherman, I totally can see him sitting in a football locker room. I disagree with SNL's argument that Tebow is in "everyone' face" about his faith, he gives all the credit to God. I think that makes most American Christians from a Puritanical performance oriented theology totally uncomfortable (we ought to work hard and earn the victory). He is not in the natural a very talented quarterback by any means, and then these miraculous endings are nothing short of supernatural.

Even if Broncos are to lose to New England on Saturday, I think Tebow is a total champion. He has made million of people google John 3:16.  He has made people who consider themselves Christian just a little uncomfortable. Anyone who pushes the comfort envelope has to be interesting.

Of course Bronco fans are the best supporters too. We work hard, play harder and we are very devoted. I would not be surprised if the Broncos go all the way this year, "all things are possible..."

The Merging of Two Forces

This was the week of the converging of 2 parties. First on the gym front. Gyms in Tainan are the stuff of legends, a big gamble. Two years ago I paid a year membership at the fabulous Flying Club by my house, went to Colorado for Chinese New Year came back and the place was closed, the owner took off with everyone's money to China. Expats who have been here longer have even more horror stories. So I have been a member at E-Powerhouse every since then. The gym is close enough, small, locker rooms are like a stinky closet, don't ask me about when a lady drops a bomb, there is no air ventilation. The weight room is pretty good, a lot of buff meat heads go there. They have yoga, spinning and combat and dance classes. My membership ends in July.

I found out on Monday they are moving, merging with the pool/gym/spa where Z takes her swimming class. They will move the library or weights and its actually a bigger space with  a coffee bar. Z can watch me dance while I take a class. Membership fees are the same, but a little more if I want to swim. The pool is closed during lunch (bad business move) so I wont pay extra for that and just buy the tickets to use the pool as I already do, swim while Z has a class.

The spa is decent enough, dry sauna, and wet sauna, nothing close to the luxury of the former Flying Club, kinda musty and cave like, but great for a sweat. The pool is fantastic for laps. So that is one merger. They will renovate during Chinese New Year plus a week off and have added a free month to everyone for the inconvenience. Now they have a special 8 months for 5000NT. Did I mention this new location (under my former apartment) is closer to my home and work? Now I can ride my bike, no need for the scooter.

Pastor Yeh, Mary (Sharefun's owner), Vivian Yeh new assistant principal

The second merger of forces has been my church with my work. Chinese Pastor Yeh and his wife Vivian have come on board to Share Fun's management. It was announced to us at our weekly meeting Wednesday and they officially kicked it off at last night's annual end of the year staff dinner (I won 4200 NT!). Since Vivian has been busy behind the scenes these  past few weeks, the whole atmosphere of the school feel so much more lighter.

I have a positive feeling that change is happening for the best.

New Years Chez Moi

On Sunday's Christmas night wedding feast I decided I would invite people over my apartment on New Years before they set off to their various parties.I wasn't up for a crazy night and I never have more than one party over at a time, except for that surprise 36th b-day party of mine.

I invited co-workers, my friends in Taipei (just in case) and some friends here in Tainan. It was a low turnout, but enough to be cozy. My closes Tainan friends plus 2 co-workers. It was mellow.I had a bottle of red and was up for making Fireflies. I had some finger food, cream cheese and salmon stuffed cherry tomatoes and red onion, blue cheese puff pastry triangles.

There were 8 adults and 6 kids, Z was the only girl. Three of my guests are divorced, one separated, the other announced their upcoming marriage, one has a spouse who lives and works in another city and comes home every other weekend, then there's me. Just call me Sgt. Pepper. It was like the Breakfast Club grews up, the Tainan version. Everyone left and my friend David stayed we watched the countdown on TV. Simple night for I expect a simply wonderful 2012.

Thinking about the Transit- Our Singapore Layover

At first I was dreading our long layover in Singapore because I knew we wolud be tired from the previous night's night bus from Tainan to Taoyuan. Then the more I started checking out Changi Airport's website I was getting petty excited about it. I figured we could take a taxi into the city maybe chill at the Botanic Gardens again (we were in Singapore in July). Now I don't think we will leave the airport, except maybe for one of the free tours.

Z is totally stoked about Changi and at night before bed , instead of a beloved story she wants to hear our Sumatra itinerary and specifically our layover in Singapore. She is excited about the kids science room and the gardens, I am excited about the nap room or the transit hotel and getting a shower. I hope we catch up on sleep during our flight so we can catch one of the free tours and enjoy a swim on the rooftop pool. Everything there is pretty affordable which is surprising because Singapore was expensive when we were there.

I cut and pasted from the airports website and converted prices into NT.

Changi Singapore Layover Possibilities:
1. FREE TOUR (2 hours)  Registration timing and operating hours Tour timings

7.00am to 3.15pm, daily (Terminal 2)

7.00am to 3.00pm, daily (Terminal 3) 9.00am, 11.00am, 1.00pm, 3.00pm, 4.00pm

(All tours are conducted in English)

2. Soak up the sun and take a refreshing dip in the rooftop swimming pool (30 mins) SGD $13.91 (327 NT) nett for non-hotel guests. 0700hrs to 2300hrs daily TERMINAL 1

3. Get a new hairdo or manicure (45 mins)

4. Catch a blockbuster movie for FREE at the Movie Theatre (2 hours) (term 2+ 3

5. Rediscover the beauty of nature at one of Changi's themed gardens (15 mins)
Term 1: Cactus Garden, Term 2: Fern Garden and Pond, Orchid Garden

6. Tuck into a hearty meal and chill out at Harry's Bar or Hard Rock Cafe (45 mins)

7. Try out a fish micro-massage therapy at the Fish Spa & Reflexology (30 mins)

8. Refresh with a quick shower (20 mins) SGD $8.56 (211 NT) nett for non-hotel guests., each Terminal

9. Have a go at the FREE Xbox 360 and PlayStation® 3 games at the Entertainment Deck (30 mins)

10. Ambassador Transit Hotel (Budget) single, TV, shared bathroom ($41.20 SGD/988 NT), Napping areas all terminals