PINOY SUNDAY is a movie that deserves an Oscar for Best Foreign Film -- it's that good and that universal!

''PINOY SUNDAY''........... is an uproarious yet tender indie comedy by a Chinese-Malaysian director about the trials and tribulations of a pair of happy-go-lucky Filipino foreign laborers working in a factory in a newly wealthy Taiwan.

Yes, they'll release a DVD after about 6 months. We're being careful before the Philippine release, and once that's over, you can be sure we'll release it on DVD soon afterwards.


These two dudes represent the Third World workers who make the iPads, iPods and iPhones in spotless factories in Taiwan that fuel the consumer-hungry Western world.

And yet this movie, a truly wonderful film, will likely NOT be shown in the West or anywhere outside a few art theaters and film festivals UNLESS the Internet and blogosphere propel this movie to the place where it belongs: winner of the Oscar award for Best Foreign Film. Think CINEMA PARADISO, think LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. It's that good!

I am a fan. See the trailer here [LINK]and you will understand why. This is not a film for just a few people to see. This film belongs in every movie theater on the planet. Danny Boyle and Shekhar Kapur need to see it. Ang Lee, too. Robert Redford and Steve Spielberg, too. And you. Yes, YOU dear reader. Go see this film.

The film is both comedy and tragedy, with a storytelling touch that is as sublime as much as it is divine.

And the star of the movie, the inanimate yet colorful star of this wonderful cinemagical masterpiece -- as part of the entire 90 minute romp in la condition humaine -- is a red sofa.

Yes, you read that correctly. A bright red leather sofa that's been thrown away by a wealthy Taiwanese family -- discarded and left on a dirty city sidewalk in metropolitan Taipei -- is one of the stars of this movie. It's a symbol of many things in the film: the haves and the have-nots, the rich and the poor, the factory bosses and the factory workers, the Taiwanese rich and the dark-skinned foreign worker migrants from the Philippines, dreams and reality, justice and injustice, love and betrayal -- all wrapped up in one bright red sofa!

It's red. It's a couch. It's been thrown away as garbage. To the two Filipino factory workers from overseas, working in Taiwan to make money for their families back home in Manila, the red sofa is a dreamed-of ticket to comfort.

So they spend the entire film trying to get the oversized, cranky, creaky, ungainly, and yes, heavy red sofa back to their worker's dormitory on the outskirts of town. In factoryville.

Red, red, red. The sofa is red. You gotta see this movie. You will never quite look at a sofa the same way again, especially a red sofa like this one!

The various attempts to push, pull, carry and even float the sofa to their spartan dormitory room is at the heart of this laugh-out-loud tragi-comedy that would make even Shakespeare proud, yes, the comedic Shakespeare, and not only Shakespeare....


James Schamus and Ang Lee need to see this film. Brilliant Mendoza must see this movie. Richard Corliss at TIME magazine needs to hear about this movie. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland and Shekhar Kapur in India need to see this film. It's that good!

And that universal!

PINOY SUNDAY is not just a movie about Taiwan. It's a universal story about love, life, dreams ..........and reality!

Dragonbones said:

Saw it tonight -- recommended! We enjoyed it very much. Great job, Gus (and all involved)!

Some have expressed that they're not interested in a film about Filipino workers in Taiwan, but that's not really what it is. I'd rather characterize it as an amusing and informative film which I think a broad audience will enjoy; it shows a side of life in Taiwan which most people don't see, and it is as much about human character, optimism, friendship and perseverance as anything. It is fresh, refreshingly non-commercial, and definitely entertaining.

Dragonbones wrote:
BTW, I was really pleased with the quality of the acting, especially that by the four Filipino leads. Really top notch!
Yes, I only met the two leads once (on the day they were filming at Ren'ai Circle) and Wi-ding has told me that throughout the entire process, they were all very professional and really wonderful to work with. Epy, in particular, was very easy to communicate with about what moods and emotions Wi-ding wanted to convey. A real natural, apparently.

It has been mentioned a few times in interviews that Epy and Bayani were not the original leads we were casting. Two years ago, we had a different Philippine producer and they were focused on a different actor. We ran into trouble trying to nail down terms with both our producer and that actor's agent. We had actually begun pre-production in Taipei before contracts were signed with both, and that was a fatal mistake. We ended up not being able to agree, and almost canceling the entire project altogether.

This was November 2008, and Wi-ding and I met in Taipei to decide if the project could continue. He'd been trying to get this done since 2005, and he wasn't going to do it half-assed with so much compromising (which was working what the first Philippine producer and the original lead actor seemed to entail). I didn't mind the delay, since I hadn't actually transfered any cash yet - Wi-ding was great about being very mindful of the investors. By calling a halt, he earned a lot of respect from me.

We set a deadline to find a new Philippine producer by CNY 2009. And did we - Mark Meily is a very experienced and very accomplished director in Philippine cinema. Unwittingly, I first met him the week his movie "Baler" swept the Metro Manila film festival that year (and of course, I was oblivious to that fact) but getting him on board was key to reaching Epy, Alex and Merryl. I think Merryl was actually at the Tribeca film festival at that time, or some other festival in New York. We had been talking to Bayani already, I think we originally had cast him in what became Epy's role. Unlike the first time around, their attitude, enthusiasm, and strong interest were so different.

It's hard to overstate how important it was to have the right people nailed down. It wasn't just that Mark was well-known in the industry, so he could open more doors. That wasn't really the problem to begin with. It was the quality of communication that transpired between Mark and Wi-ding. Filmmaking in the Philippines and Taiwan has many differences - contracts, expectations - but these two were able to connect and agree very quickly on a range of things that were needed on the Philippine-side. Mark understood who and what Wi-ding needed without as much discussion as the first time, so WI-ding's few trips to Manila for casting were more efficient and meaningful.

Can't say enough good things about Mark. He has a long list of accomplishments, but one of the more recent things he has done is adapt the Camera Cafe TV Show from France into a Filipino setting. His firm -- Spark Films -- won the contract for the Philippine market and has won awards and recognition for it, among many other things. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, I can see that Epy and Alex's sister were part of that show

Bayani and Epy do have great chemistry on screen.

Here's another tip in the movie - that very very last scene (which was actually the first scene that was filmed, because it was filmed onsite in the Philippines) is *not* part of the main story. It shows the close friendship of the two heroes, and was intentionally meant to be unclear whether it happened BEFORE or AFTER the main story in Taipei. There are a number of flash backs to the beach where they are from in the Philippines, so that final scene is supposed to be treated as EITHER a flashback or a flashforward. When I watched it with my inlaws at the Golden Horse, I explained this to them, but they figured it was easier to understand as happening after the main events of the story. (When you see it, this paragraph will make more sense)

Oh, and actually, I was kinda expecting the credits to roll while they were singing on the river. I don't know whether anyone else mentioned this to you. That would have made a good ending too.

I saw the movie at SPOT. Makes me feel at home while watching it and doesn't want the movie to end Great movie! I love the simplicity of it.

Just to share an experience, while waiting for the screening, I saw this petite chinese-looking man with a backpack loitering around SPOT's vicinity. As I was reading some clippings with pics on SPOT's bulletin boards, i just recognized that the guy i just saw was actually the director Thanks Mr. Wi Ding Ho and the production team for making this movie happen.

Does anybody knows if there are plans to release a DVD of the movie? Salamat po.

I watched the movie at SPOT as well! Lot's of Taiwanese students watching so the place was full and I had to sit in the 2nd row.

Pinoy Sunday was great! It's actually the type of film I would write a looooong paper on in my student days. There was a Q&A after the movie and I wanted to ask a question but I was too shy and my Mandarin is really poor... in the scene where they were fighting over the dog, why were the scenes cut/spliced so obviously? I was wondering if there was a metaphor behind that I wasn't getting...?

I was pleasantly surprised with Bayani's acting in this movie. The audience kept laughing at his facial expressions, especially the 'serious' face. He came across as someone you and I would know in real life... well played!

I'm really hoping to read a review on this movie that would outline/point out the underlying meanings/symbols of the story. For one, it wasn't obvious to me that the colors represented the flag until someone asked about it in the Q&A. I'm sure there are lots more such as what the sofa represents... and the ending...

Planning to watch it again! And I know my friends are going to watch too... Thanks so much to everyone who made this movie possible! Good luck with the film festivals - praying for the win!

Max Estes: Children's Book Author and Illustrator in Norway with New Book Coming Out in Fall of 2010 from a Publisher in Norway Titled "Søppel" [in English that means "Garbage"] -- This book would make a great translation for Taiwan market, too, in Chinese characters! Kids and teachers here would love it! The man is a genius! Bravo Max Estes!

http://www.maxestes.com/index.php?/picture-books/pa-jobb-med-soppelmenn


Søppel (Garbage) is Mr Estes' first picture book for the renowned Norwegian publisher, Cappelen Damm. It will appear in print in the Autumn of 2010. Above is a selection of two-page spreads.

Who is Max Estes?

He is an American illustrator based in Oslo, Norway. He has drawn for a diverse group of folks, including Obama for America, to Dark Horse Comics, and the Easter Seals Foundation. His illustrations and books have been published and exhibited in Europe, Asia, Canada, Scandinavia and the US. He is the author of three graphic novels, and a picture book.

A brief interview with Max Estes for his fans in Taiwan and worldwide!

Questions:

1. What brought you to Norway and which city do you live in there?

ANSWER: "Why am I in Norway? Norway's biggest import draw: a tall blue-eyed gal. In 2005, a nerdy Norwegian librarian reviewed my first comic book, consequently we started talking / emailing. Three years later, we were married. Now I call Oslo home. Crazy how life tugs you round the universe if you let it."

2. Where was your hometown in the USA and where did you go to college and what was your major?

ANSWER: I grew up in the Midwest. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a town of 7,000. Bachelors in Communication Design from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (1999). Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2008). The decade between undergrad and graduate school I explored the West coast, dabbled in Art Direction, freelance illustration, and discovered comics. My first comic, 'Hello, Again' was published in 2005.

3. Garbage is a picture book for children in Norway, with subsequent
editions in translations in other countries. What does the title mean,
how did you come up with it, and what is the book about?

ANSWER: "As a child, I was fascinated with garbage-men and the hulking, loud trucks they drove. It's a mysterious job, because few kids (or adults) think about trash after it goes in the can. What happens after we throw trash away? Who are the people who handle our waste? I think children are interested in this subject, and more so, few topics will shape mankind's future like garbage. We need to encourage people to consider garbage starting at a young age. "


4. Which age group is the book targeted at?

ANSWER: " I haven't really given that much thought. I read and learn from children's books still, and try to write and illustrate for a broad age and audience.


5. Do you think this book would work well with children in Taiwan or
Japan or China?



ANSWER: ''Garbage is a universal topic. We all produce it, we all play a part in garbage removal and recycling. Asia's burgeoning population is well aware of the environmental concerns garbage creates. I believe much of the US's trash and recycling is now being shipped over to Asia for processing, so this is indeed an important topic for the region. ''

6. Does the book have an environmental theme?



ANSWER: ''Yes, very much so. On one hand, I tapped into the child in me who is still interested in the romantic themes of garbage men cruising the streets on hulking trucks, but mostly, I feel strongly about the environmental issues facing mankind. Norway is an extremely forward thinking country on environmental issues, and I feel that's partly the reason my editors at Cappelen Damm here in Oslo picked up this book.''


7. How did this book come about? Did the book editor approach you or
did you approach him or her?

I approached Cappelen Damm, the main children's book / picture book publisher here in Norway.

陳樹菊 Chen Shu-chun's media arc began in 2005 with a front page story in the Liberty Times during the adminstration of Taiwan President Chen Shiu-bian

2005 -- first media mentions

2010 - more media mentions, Forbes magazine, Time magazine

Local vendor makes Forbes philanthropist list, reported the United Dail News in March 2010


A 61-year-old vegetable vendor in Taitung City, eastern Taiwan, has been honored as one of this year’s “48 Heroes of Philanthropy” in the Asia-Pacific region by Forbes Asia.


Chen Shu-chu, who has donated nearly NT$10 million (US$312,305) to various charities and altruistic causes over the last 30 odd years, was selected for the annual list compiled by the magazine for the third straight year.

Upon hearing the news, the modest Chen played down her contribution to society, saying in a definitely understated manner that “I haven’t donated much money.”

Chen has by no means had an easy life herself. She had to drop out of school at the age of 13 to help her father support her four younger brothers and two little sisters by selling vegetables after her mother passed away.

Over the last few decades, Chen has donated most of her earnings from working tirelessly as a vegetable seller in Taitung’s Central Market. The charity organizations she has helped with generous contributions include the Fo Guang Shan monastery and the Kids Alive International orphanage.
She also donated NT$4.5 million several years ago toward the construction of a library at the Ren-Ai Elementary School that she once attended. In addition, Chen recently revealed to a friend that she plans to donate NT$10 million this year toward helping poor students in Taitung.

On March 7, Taitung County Magistrate Justin Huang sent officials to visit Chen on his behalf to convey his best regards regarding the honor bestowed by “Forbes.” During the visit, the officials pasted up a large red sign with the words “Honor of Taitung” as an expression of congratulations.

Speaking about the “Forbes” list, John Koppisch, associate editor of the magazine, said the names chosen “aren’t always the biggest givers. Instead, we aim to highlight a varied group of generous people…who deserve recognition.”
(This article originally appeared in the “United Daily News” March 7, 2010.)

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang puts a specially-designed apron on vegetable vendor Chen Shu-chu upon her return to Taiwan early yesterday morning.

PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

''PINOY SUNDAY'' is a movie that breaks down the walls in Taiwan. 台北星期天

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbDGLmudVM0

Synopsis


Overseas workers MANUEL IMSON and DADO LOPEGA are friends who work together in a bicycle factory located in a suburb of Taipei. They have left their idyllic seaside village in Kalibo in the southern Philippines for Taipei’s work opportunities and abundant promise. MANUEL and DADO are part of the largest ethnic minority that makes up Taiwan’s diverse migrant workforce—the Filipino Overseas Migrant Workers.



DADO and MANUEL live in a factory dormitory that houses migrant workers. The workers – packed in six to a room – have a government-mandated curfew every night. The end of a long workday barely leaves workers enough time to socialize or take care of personal chores. Missing curfew means deportation. Two days ago, their roommates, in fear of deportation after missing several curfews, have escaped to work illegally.



On Sundays Filipino migrant workers make the long bus trip from industrial areas on the outskirts of the city to Taipei’s “Little Philippines” on Zhongshan North Road. For one day this is not Taipei. As they would in Manila, Filipino immigrants go about their Sunday rituals and routines. The streets chime with people chatting in faraway dialects. They hang-out, gossip, shop and eat, and, more importantly, stand in long lines at shipping offices or “Padala Centers” to send gifts or remit money to their families back home.



The night before, DADO calls home and learns his wife has had a minor car accident. Feeling heavily guilty, DADO goes to Sunday confession and later breaks up his extra-marital affair with Anna. Meanwhile, MANUEL’S considerable romantic exertions to pick up a sexy Filipina, Cecilia, have come to naught. Distraught and homesick, the friends find themselves on a sidewalk bench. They stare out across the street—none of the usual chatter or laughter passes between them, not one word of commiseration.



Movers work across the street. A Taiwanese wife asks the movers to bring the used couch to the dumpster and the movers resist this extra workload. A verbal fight starts. DADO and MANUEL watch a Taiwanese street drama unfolding in front of them.



Finally, the movers and the couple compromise and leave the couch promptly on the sidewalk before they drive off. The creamy leather couch, perfect but for a tiny tea stain on its armrest, draws MANUEL and DADO over. They examine the couch and decide to take it back to their dormitory. Convenient Taipei public transportation are not helpful or possible; having just sent all their funds and gifts back home, the two are unable to afford a delivery service, so instead, they decide to carry the precious couch across town, on foot.



On their absurdist journey, MANUEL and DADO encounter different archetypal characters and come across the many faces of a typical globalizing, industrial city. Often humorous and poignant, rife with miscommunication, both parties attempt to overcome linguistic barriers—using Tagalog, Taiwanese, Mandarin, even broken English with each encounter.



MANUEL and DADO make their way through the snarls and eddies of Taipei traffic, attracting attention that sends them to a police precinct and on the TV news. At the precinct, MANUEL and DADO’S papers prove to be in order. Nobody’s reported a missing couch either. The two men and their couch, are soon back on the road.



MANUEL and DADO carry the couch out of the city and into the industrial hinterland. The adventure never stops; they further encounter a near-suicide attempt and an old man who offers to ferry them and their couch—only to bring them farther from their destination. Once back on track, they decide that following the river is the shortest way to their dormitory.



Lost, exhausted, and defeated, MANUEL and DADO‘s journey comes to a climax at sundown when tension explodes and panic strikes. Two long-time friends fight over the choice between facing deportation if they miss curfew and abandoning the now precious couch. They finally smooth things out by sharing a meal of microwave spaghetti and cold beer from a nearby 7-11 store, star-gazing and reminiscing of home turns into an evening spent on the couch by the riverside. It is well past curfew but for once, they are not concerned. MANUEL and DADO fall asleep to the sounds of the river and dream of their seaside hometown—singing along as the couch floats down the moon-lit river.



The following morning, MANUEL and DADO awake, stunned to discover the couch really is floating in the water, ruined. Uncertain of their future, they hide the couch away and return to work—yet another day of routine and ritual.

FILM REVIEW by HO YI in the Taipei Times in Enlgish expat paper:
[Foreign contract workers are] Hidden in plain sight




‘Pinoy Sunday’ will most likely not be playing at a theater near you because its subject is Taiwan’s migrant workers — a topic most cinemas think will be of little interest to mainstream Taiwan audiences

DIRECTED BY:

HO WI-DING (何蔚庭)



STARRING:

EPY QUIZON (MANUEL), BAYANI AGBAYANI (DADO), ALESSANDRA DE ROSSI (CECILIA), MERYLL SORIANO (ANNA)


Born and raised in Malaysia, educated in North America and having worked and lived in Taipei for the past nine years, Ho Wi-ding (何蔚庭) knows what it is to be an outsider. This no doubt is part of the reason why the director spent the past four years preparing, raising money for and making Pinoy Sunday (台北星期天), a humorous tongue-in-cheek peek at the life of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taipei whose stories are rarely told.

The film centers on Manuel (Epy Quizon) and Dado (Bayani Agbayani), two Filipinos who work in a bicycle factory in a Taipei suburb. Their life at the plant entails six days of drudgery. Then there is Sunday. Like other Filipino migrant workers, the two friends make long bus trips to Taipei’s “Little Manila” on Zhongshan North Road (中山北路) where they go to church, hang out with their fellow countrymen, have fun and flirt with girls.



On one particular Sunday, Manuel and Dado discover a sofa that’s been discarded on a sidewalk. Excited about how the couch could bring a measure of comfort to their drab dormitory life, the pair decide to carry, on foot, their precious find across town, out of the city and back to the factory.



What is supposed to be a day of rest turns into an adventure in which the two wayfarers encounter various characters as they trek through Taipei’s urban hinterland.



Pinoy Sunday shows a different side of Taipei that is foreign to most of the city’s inhabitants. Instead of Sogo department stores and Eslite bookstores, our protagonists visit St Christopher’s Catholic Church and Chin Wan Wan (金萬萬) market, where OFWs hang out, shop and seek entertainment. On their return journey, they pass by junkyards and public housing complexes in Taipei’s desolate outskirts en route to their home in the city’s fringe, which is “far away from Taipei 101,” as Bayani’s character points out.



Through the lens of American cinematographer Jack Pollack, the image of two men carrying a bright red couch against a sparse rural/urban backdrop delivers a visual contrast that is both amusing and absurd.



“To me, this image is very third-world-country, and it can happen anywhere in the world. Imagine two Mexicans or a couple of poor foreign students carrying a sofa on the streets of Los Angeles,” said Ho, who has also made two shorts with Pollack, Respire (呼吸, 2005), which won two awards at Cannes, and Summer Afternoon (夏午, 2008). The two have been friends since their days as students at New York University.



When Ho decided to bring to life an image inspired by Roman Polanski’s 1958 short Two Men and a Wardrobe through a tale of Filipino migrant workers, he embarked on an intense year-long research project that involved hanging out with OFWs at Taipei’s Little Manila and similar communities. “It is like an ethnographic film project. You go into a tribe, observe, collect facts and make a report,” Ho told the Taipei Times.



But instead of making a slice-of-life portrait or poignant social critique like film critic-turned-director Rich Lee (李奇) does in Detours to Paradise (歧路天堂), Ho goes for a lighthearted and humorous tone, opting to depict the sunnier side of the lives of migrant workers, who sing karaoke, laugh, relax and can be themselves on their days off.



The discrimination and other forms of injustice inflicted on them by Taiwanese society do lurk beneath the surface, nevertheless, and are often rendered in comic absurdity. One example can be found in the film’s most poetic moment, when Manuel and Dado, lost and exhausted on a riverside at dusk, panic over the thought of missing the factory’s curfew, which could lead to them being deported. A dreamlike musical sequence follows, showing the two friends floating down the river, singing, drumming and playing guitar on their couch as if they were taking a boat trip back to their seaside hometown.



The film may be upbeat in tone, but the prospect of it reaching a great number of audiences is not. Despite the favorable reviews the film has received after it premiered at the Taipei Golden Horse Fantastic Film Festival (台北金馬奇幻影展) last month, only two movie theaters, Spot — Taipei Film House (台北光點) and Vie Show Cinemas Xinyi (信義威秀影城), have agreed to show Pinoy Sunday. Most movie theaters hung back when they heard the story is about OFWs, and staff at one theater went so far as to say they didn’t want foreign migrant workers hanging around in front of the theater, according to Ho.



Moreover, the dominant Filipino language spoken by the leading characters also made the film, a recipient of the government’s Subsidy For Film Production (電影輔導金), run into trouble with the Government Information Office (GIO, 新聞局), which issues the money. Because one of the subsidy’s rules states that Chinese dialects should be the dominant languages spoken in government-funded films, an additional copy of the film was dubbed in Taiwanese, and several commercial screenings of it are required.



“I think it comes down to whether the GIO wants to encourage creativity or bureaucracy. We’d like to discuss with the [GIO] how to make the regulations more flexible for movies about new immigrants,” Ho said.



Foreign migrant workers with ID cards can buy movie tickets at a discount price of NT$150. Visit pinoysunday.pixnet.net/blog/post/6207639 to find out which six theaters are screening Pinoy Sunday in Taipei, Jhongli (中壢), Tainan, Douliu (斗六) and Kaohsiung.

====================

Director Ho, middle 30s, who hails from Muar, Johor, Malaysia, grew up on a diet of Hong Kong and Hollywood films. He then realised that he wanted to talk and read about films. Later, he wrote Chinese film reviews about Hong Kong films in the Chinese daily newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh,.

"Too many crappy films got me thinking, if I make films, I can make better and more interesting films than the ones I don't like," Ho explained.

Ho left home to attend school in United States when he was 18. He graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Film Production Program, majoring in directing and writing.

After 10 years in the west, he returned to Asia to direct TV commercials in Singapore, before relocating to Taipei, Taiwan to continue directing. He has been there for four years now, making commercials, documentaries and music videos.

His thesis film, Still, garnered a bronze prize at the 1998 Wasserman Film Festival and was showcased in festivals in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Brisbane and Singapore. His other short film, Solstice, won the Oppenheimer Production Grant from Seattle in the United Statesand is currently in post-production.

His screenplay, Sketches, was a semi-finalist for the Richard Vague Production Grant, while another, Sons and Fathers, earned a special mention from the same grant and was a semi-finalist for the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Workshop. He is currently developing a feature project, a road movie called Lonely Together.

Ho feels making commercials is good training for a filmmaker who is starting out. "It gives good money and good connections for a filmmaker who is starting out," he explained. "Without working in commercials, I wouldn't have been able to make this film (Respire). You don't have to go to film school, just work in commercial productions for a couple of years."

He feels right at home in Taiwan and finds the Taiwanese warm and friendly. "Taiwan might not be the best place for commercial filmmaking but it carries a certain energy and creativity. Taiwan was actually a random choice for me. I wanted to go to Chinese-speaking countries and fortunately, I had a friend who stayed in Taipei. So I came here."

He said his experiences living and working abroad has taught him to be more objective, open-minded and detached toward a lot of issues he encountered later in his life. They have also helped him to tell stories at a more universal level.

That is why he admires German filmmaker Wim Wenders.

"He makes films in many countries, from his homelandfor the United States, Portugal and Cuba," said Ho. "He might not be my favourite filmmaker but I admire his nomadic filmmaking career."

Taiwan tries untangling mangled (but fun) English -- a story about Chinglish in Taiwan!

Taiwan's Commission for the Management of Language Use’s mission is to get rid of Chinglish, which irks fans of the island nation's linguistic maladaptations




For English speakers with subpar Mandarin Chinese language skills, daily life in Taiwan offers a confounding array of choices. At banks, there are machines for “cash withdrawing” and “cash recycling.” The menus of local restaurants might present such delectables as “fried enema,” “monolithic tree mushroom stem squid” and a mysterious thirst-quencher known as “The Jew’s Ear Juice.”

Those who have had a bit too much monolithic tree mushroom stem squid could find themselves requiring roomier attire: extra-large sizes sometimes come in “fatso” or “lard bucket” categories. These and other fashions can be had at the clothing chain known as Scat.

Go ahead and snicker, but it's true.

Taiwan is trying its best to get rid of uniquely Chinese language maladaptations of the English language which were supposed to have been largely excised. Not yet.



Fortified by an army of 600 volunteers of adroit English speakers, the commission has fixed more than 10,000 public signs (farewell “Teliot” and “urine district”), rewritten English-language historical placards and helped hundreds of restaurants recast offerings.



“The purpose of signage is to be useful, not to be amusing,” said director general of the capital’s Foreign Affairs Office, has been leading the fight for linguistic standardization and sobriety.

But while the war on mangled English may be considered a signature achievement of government officials, aficionados of what is known as Chinglish are wringing their hands in despair.

Oliver Jean Marcel , a former French TV reporter who may well be the world’s second best authority on Chinglish, said he believed that Taiwan should embrace the fanciful melding of English and Chinese as the hallmark of a dynamic, living language. As he sees it, Chinglish is an endangered species that deserves preservation.

“If you standardize all these signs, you not only take away the little giggle you get while strolling in the park but you lose a window into the Taiwanese mind,” said Marcel, who is the author of a pair of picture books that feature giggle-worthy Chinglish signs in their natural habitat.

Lest anyone think it is all about laughs, he is pursuing a doctorate in Chinglish at the Sorbonne.

Still, the enemies of Chinglish say the laughter it elicits is humiliating.

Those who study the roots of Chinglish say many examples can be traced to laziness and a flawed but wildly popular translation software. A professor of Chinese said a computerized dictionary had led to sexually oriented vulgarities identifying dried produce in Chinese supermarkets and the regrettable “fried enema” menu selection that should have been rendered as “fried sausage.”

Although improved translation software and a growing zeal for grammatically unassailable English has slowed the output of new Chinglishisms, the prof said he still received about five new examples a day from expats in Taiwan who knew he was good at deciphering what went wrong. “If someone would pay me to do it, I’d spend my life studying these things,” he said.

Among those getting paid to wrestle with Chinglish is Jeffrey Mao, an English translator and teacher in Chiayi who is leading the nationwide sign exorcism. But even as he eradicates the most egregious examples by government fiat — businesses dare not ignore the commission’s suggested fixes — he has mixed feelings, noting that although some Chinglish phrases sound awkward to Western ears, they can be refreshingly lyrical.

“Some of it tends to be expressive, even elegant,” he said, shuffling through an online catalog of signs that were submitted by the volunteers who prowled Shanghai with digital cameras. “They provide a window into how we Taiwanese think about language.”

He offered the following example: While park signs in the West exhort people to “Keep Off the Grass,” Taiwanese versions tend to anthropomorphize nature as a way to gently engage the stomping masses. Hence, such admonishments as “The Little Grass Is Sleeping. Please Don’t Disturb It” or “Don’t Hurt Me. I Am Afraid of Pain.”



He pointed out that this linguistic mentality helped create such expressions as “long time no see,” HA JYO BU CHIEN, a word-for-word translation of a Chinese expression that became a mainstay of spoken English.

But Mao, who spent nearly eight decades working as a translator in Boston, has his limits. To highlight the point, he showed a sign from a local park designed to provide visitors with the ground rules for entry, which include prohibitions on washing, “scavenging,” clothes drying and public defecation, all of it rendered in unintelligible — and in the case of the last item — rather salty English.

The sign ended with this humdinger: “Because if the tourist does not obey the staff to manage or contrary holds, Does, all consequences are proud.”

Even though he had had the sign corrected recently, Mao could not help but shake his head in disgust at the memory. And he was irritated to find that a raft of troublesome sign verbiage had slipped past the commission as the expo approached, including a cafeteria sign that read, “The tableware reclaims a place.” (Translation: drop off dirty dishes here.)

“Some Chinglish expressions are nice, but we are not translating literature here,” he said. “I want to see people nodding that they understand the message on these signs. I don’t want to see them laughing.”

[with a hat tip to Andrew Jacobs]

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou slightly got his grammar wrong: He wanted to say "Americans" (plural, with an s) but on air with CNN he just said "American" although he meant it as a plural term

Ma told CNN the other day:

“we will never ask the American to fight for Taiwan” — in the interview with CNN host Chritiane Amanpour, broadcast April 30.

He meant to say “we will never ask the Americans to fight for Taiwan”

That's okay. Even though Ma's English is very fluent, I have spoken with him at his office when he was the mayor of Taipei, and I like him, I gave him a copy of my book in his office and we chatted for 30 seconds or so, June 2002 or so.....it is EASY to make grammar mistakes, I know, because even though i speak French, my grammar is not perfect or even very good. So Ma meant to say AMERICANS but what came out was AMERICAN..... i heard it on air when he was on CNN and i wrote it down in my sofa notebook.

no biggie

just for the record

E Ink comes to Taiwan via PVI and is set to change the way we read, er, the way we "screen"