An American makes plans to move to Taiwan.

9.29.2008

General Update

Well we just had a big Typhoon, I didn't need to go to work today because of it. Yesterday at one point when i went outside the door was yanked out of my grip by the wind and the door knob slammed into the outside wall. Seems it was damaged a little because now it is more stiff to turn and lock. It was a surprise to me! My scooter was also blown over so I took it inside. Many stores were closed during the Typhoon.

Leah stayed with me and we walked to McDonalds and were well soaked and blown about. Lucky for us they were open. A lot of people were there getting food and staying out of the rain.

I took Leah to catch her bus to Kaohsiung and ended up getting lost on the way home. I still had a general notion of where I was going, and which way was North, but I was getting a bit confused about exactly where I was. Finally I found a road I knew, and followed it to another intersection. Many of the bigger roads are also labeled in English. I am able to read the characters than mean 'Beitun District' as well which helped me at one point. Anyway, I was soaked by the time I got home. During my time being lost, however, I discovered a really cool big temple with a statue of a red skinned bearded man, most likely a daoist god. I think I'll try to go back there to get some footage for my Taiwan Dreamin' program.

Speaking of that - well actually, randomly discovering that statue was really cool for me and inspired me to continue thinking about how I can put segments together to create the first eppisode. It's been a long time and I still haven't gotten all the pieces I want. When my father is here I will be doing more traveling so I am expecting to get a lot of footage at that time as well.

Just driving around in my every day life I see the same things and sometimes kind of forget I am on the other side of the world from where I was born. But when I see something new, like a traditional temple, or a big sky scraper, anything like that, I am reminded and I get really excited. That's when I really want to show everyone else! So I really want to get some eppisodes completed.

My main problem is trying to decide on a production value I am going for. I mean, how 'professional' it needs to be. Basically, shooting video is difficult, but editing is probably twice as hard. The other thing is keeping the editing process in mind when you are filming, make sure you get the shots you want. On some of the footage Ive gotten so far I found that I moved the camera way too quickly, I'll need to slow it down. The thing is, when you are filming, you have an urge to be quick. When you are slowly panning over something you feel it's too slow and might be boring, but that's what editing is for, you need the shot to be long enough and slow enough to work with.

Okay, enough about that... I think my Taiwan Dreamin' questions and comments video has over 200 views now. That's not a TON, but it's enough for me to feel there is an interest out there for the video. Once I actually have some interesting content, I hope Taiwanese and the rest of the world will be interested to watch.

I'll also need some translating done if I am to use subtitles, so if anyone is interested let me know!

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

9.23.2008

Video Game Conquest

I just felt like listing every video game I have COMPLETED, I'll see if I can remember them all. I have to say, there are many many games I have played that I never beat. Some of which I was extremely far along in.

I got to the last boss in Xenogears, and also Breath of Fire 3, without ever beating it. However BOF3 let you complete the game by giving up to the last boss so maybe I should count that version, haha! Hm, I also remember my game clock in BOF3 had over 100 hours on it, that let's you know, some of the games that don't make this list still took up quite a lot of time.

Anway, here goes nothing!

NES:
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
River City Ransom
Super Mario Bros 3
Kirby

Gameboy:
The Legend of Zelda- Link's Awakening
Lock and Chase
Kirby's Dreamland

Arcade:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Final Fight

SNES:
Mega Man Soccer
Final Fight
Street Fighter 2- World Warriors
Super Mario Kart

Dreamcast:
Shen Mue

PS1:
Tekken 2
Tekken 3
Tenchu- Stealh Assassins
Tenchu 2
Time Crisis
Bushido Blade
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics
Ehrgeiz
Ace Combat 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Metal Gear Solid
Mega Man 8
Twisted Metal 2
Road Rash

PS2:
Tekken Tag
Tekken 4
Tekken 5
Tenchu- Wrath of Heaven
Time Crisis 2
Time Crisis 3
Dynasty Warriors 2
Capcom VS SNK 2- Mark of the Millenium
DOA 2- Hardcore
The Warriors
Urban Reign
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto- San Andreas
Dragon Ball z- Budokai 3
Katamari Damacy
We Love Katamari
Resident Evil- Code Veronica X
Metal Gear Solid 2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Madden 2002 (Super Bowl)
Final Fantasy 10
Silent Hill 2

Gamecube:

Resident Evil
Resident Evil 0
Resident Evil 4
Metal Gear Solid- Twin Snakes
The Legend of Zelda- Wind Waker
Mario Kart- Double Dash
NHL 2003 (Stanley Cup)
Soul Calibur 2
Tales of Symphonia

Wii:
Rayman Raving Rabbids
Resident Evil- Umbrella Chronicles
Wario Ware- Smooth Moves
The Legend of Zelda- Twilight Princess
Victorious Boxers Revolution

PS3:
Grand Theft Auto 4
Call of Duty 4
Metal Gear Solid 4
Soul Calibur 4
Assassin's Creed

PC:
Civilization
Civilization 4
Pirates
Starcraft
Warcraft 2
Age of Empires
Sim City
Sim City 2000
The Movies
Theme Park
Sam & Max- Hit the Road
Day of the Tentacle
Maniac Mansion
Space Quest 2 (or 4? I think I beat one of them...)

Much time invested, but Incomplete:
Fallout
Breath of Fire 3
Xenogears
Final Fantasy 6
Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy 9
Mega Man Legends
Mega Man Legends 2
Dungeon Master
Star Control 2
Star Control 3
Diablo
Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda- A link to the Past
Grand Theft Auto 2
Grand Theft Auto- Vice City
Pokemon Red
Gran Turismo 3
Gran Turismo 4
Battlefield 2
Counter Strike
Silent Hill
Silent Hill 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario Bros 2

Currently 'working' on:
Mario 64
Super Mario Galaxy
Zack and Wiki
Super Metroid
Super Smash Bros- Brawl
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 3
Final Fantasy XII
Zelda- Ocarina of time
Bionic Commando rearmed
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 7
Street Fighter 3

Currently waiting for:
Mega Man 9
Fallout 3
Little Big Planet
Street Fighter 4
Silent Hill 5
Tekken 6
Resident Evil 5
Dead Space
Final Fantasy 13
NHL 09
Spore (maybe?)

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

9.20.2008

Chinese Lesson

I had my first session of being tutored last Wednesday. I hired my friend Pei Xin to teach me. She is very good in English so I think she can understand every question I will have or things I want to learn. Right now I am just typing up some lesson plan ideas and sending them to her to form into something she can teach me.

Last time I reviewed things like I, you, she, he, we, them. How to say I am 'excited' or 'scared' or 'bored.' The days of the week... how to write my Chinese name properly... lot's of cool things!

I also recored my voice saying the words as I copied her prompts. I think It should all be pretty good and useful! I feel like if I keep doing this I can really improve quickly, but I guess we will see!

Also on another note I have been practicing playing Super Street Fighter II Turbo and I think I am improving at that as well. I hope when I go to play Street Fighter 4 in Kaohsiung that I can do well and not waste too many quarters!

Labels: , , , , , ,

9.13.2008

Typhoon Sinlaku


Here's an image from wunderground.com of the tropical storm hitting my poor little house currently!

Labels: , , , , , ,

Moon Festival

Moon festival is here. I don't know too much about it's history but I think it is the Taiwanese after harvest festival. Most cultures have one, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. A celebration before winter makes food more scarce.


In Taiwan you can find many people having BBQs. You can buy some cinder blocks and a BBQ tray really cheap, then just get some charcoal at 7-11, set it up on the sidewalk, then you have a great barbeque! We did this on Claire's sidewalk area. It was really fun! Alisha invited me to another one this weekend so I can see if I am able to go.


Street Fighter is an important game for me. I am not particularly good at it, but it's one of the games that influenced me to keep drawing every day. I would watch my friend Michael play Street Fighter and Mega Man, and I would draw the characters. That was when I was a kid, Street Fighter 2 was really popular. Well now they are coming out with Street Fighter 4. It's in Arcades. I found online that in USA there are only a few places that have the machines, California, New York, Washington State, but here in Taiwan there is a single solitary machine in Kaohsiung city! Leah just moved there so I hope she can help me find it! I would be really excited to play that game in an arcade. I've always wanted to play games in a Japanese Arcade, but playing SF4 in Taiwan is pretty awesome too!


On October 28th, my father will come to visit me here to visit me! He will be here for about three weeks. That's two weekends to work with. I hope we can do some fun and exciting things around Taiwan. I will take plenty of video of that, and maybe my quest for the SF4 machine too. I really want to get some interesting and compelling footage for my show. I want to do my best to make it dynamic and engaging.

Finally, there is a Typhoon hitting Taiwan right now, a big one! I haven't been outside yet today but I can hear the winds racing through the street and trying to force its way into my house through any crack or crevice it can find! I still didn't buy a raincoat either, hahaha!

Labels: , , , , , , ,

9.02.2008

Taiwan Dreamin' - Suggestions Video!

Okay, I just uploaded a video asking for suggestions for my Taiwan Dreamin' show.

Another big reason to watch the video is that I show the intro I made for the show in after effects.

So please take a look, give me some comments and suggestions!

Watch the video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KD6Ez-coEa8

Thanks!