All posts filed under: Media

Coming Together, Falling Apart

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In reality, equilibrium is only an observation over a large scale of time, but at any specific time period, things are more like a pendulum, swinging from one end of the spectrum to the next. Looking at the world today, and the violent conflicts that seem to escalate in scale, it would appear that the world has forgotten the horrors of war – the incredible devastation of the two World Wars that obliterated most of Europe – and the resulting need for international unity and harmony. As the old Chinese saying goes “after a long time together, it ought to separate, after a long time divided, it ought to come together”. In many ways, if we look at the history of the world, that is exactly how things play out. The world gets smaller, then it divides and feels farther apart. The Macedonian Empire disintegrated into separate polities, only to reunite again under the Romans. The Mongolian tribes were brought together into the largest empire ever seen only to fall apart. In some ways, faced with …

Relaunch…The Brand New Ideas by IamLliw

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Hello everyone! IamLliw is back! For those that don’t know, check out About Ideas by IamLliw. It has been a long time. In the last couple years, I attended and graduated with a M.A. from Arizona State University. I focused on urban environment studies through an urban political ecology framework. My passion for space and the use of space led to me examine relationships between social issues and their spatial distribution. Along those lines, I immersed myself in urban planning and development, as I pursued my interest in urban environments that developed during my time in the Department of Environmental Protection of Taipei. The major projects I have been involved in typically revolved around the spatial analysis of cities. That is also where my passion lies – understanding, analyzing, and creating space. Unfortunately, this blog fell to the wayside with my focus dedicated to my studies. However, my experiences in academics taught me the importance of developing and sustaining a voice. At its core, every published research paper is an intellectually developed and evidence based report …

Really, Jeremy Lin is American

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This article was originally seen on the Taiwanese website of the magazine Business Weekly, written by Joey Chung. I thought it was a good take on Taiwanese society, our politicians and media, so I translated the article into English and decided to share it here. Last week, my editors at Business Weekly invited me to write a piece about Jeremy Lin. Their reasoning was that he went to Harvard and so did I, and technically we were both attending the school at the same time. As such I should have some unique viewpoints to share. I really don’t. Personally, I really dislike this attitude of the Taiwanese media: whenever someone or something becomes trendy or a hot topic, everyone needs to have an opinion on it. No matter where you happen to go, everyone wants to talk about the topic, every radio and television station has to discuss it. Do I have anything unique to say about Linsanity? No. Honestly, I wasn’t in a rush to write this piece. I am just like anyone else, I …

MC HotDog Sings…About Society

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MC HotDog is back with a new single called “離開”, which translates to “Depart” or “Leave”. In a departure from his last collaboration with A-yue about Taiwanese chicks, one night stands, and bras, this song is about the spread of social media and online connectivity and how it has affected our interactions with each other and ourselves. Many of us become trapped in our online identities and become disengaged from reality. A particularly poignant verse in the song goes, “在 Real world 我用真名說假的話 Another world 我用假名說真的話 有點疑惑　我也開始變得有點掙扎 在我的兩個世界裡　分不清真假” which points out how we seem to live different lives in reality and in the virtual world. Translated, it says, “In the real world I speak falsely while using my real name, another world I speak the truth using an alias, it is a little confusing, I am starting to struggle a little in both my world, it difficult to tell what’s real and what’s not”. This brings me to my point – what is media really doing to us? Are we using it for our own advantages or …

Curious Prometheus

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This is my first, ever blog site. Finally, after all these years, I decided to open my mind up to the wild world of the World Wide Web. To start off, I will be writing about the new movie, Prometheus. Warning: there will be some spoilers, so don’t read it if knowing will ruin your enjoyment of the movie. Prometheus, what a movie: incredible mythology, motifs, and imagery. However subtle, it has numerous philosophical views and references to other media cultures such as religious symbolism and self-sacrifice and human conceit. I would like to introduce another thread of thought. The movie is about the human inclination to be irresistibly drawn to the unknown – that unfettered curiosity that consumes all of us, at one point or another. Humans seem to instinctively thirst for knowledge. Prometheus is a movie about the dangers of unbridled curiosity and the power of knowledge, much like the story of its namesake. When the first scene opens, you are immediately  drawn to the clear references of Prometheus, the Greek god, self-sacrifice …