What’s up in Taiwan: I found this podcast introducing Taiwan by interviewing foreigners living in Taiwan. These people give inside-views of the small island, with some of the viewpoints differ from locals like me.
Try few episodes in your iPod, you can contiune when you get interested. You can even visit us if you get really interested.
今天去了台北國際書展。通常我都會用這種一年一度的機會買文學類的書；今年也是。
今年書展的主題館是歐洲四國文化館；擺了很多我看不懂的文字寫的書，然後展示一些歐洲版的台灣古地圖；現場有位德國(?)版畫家在刷國際書展德國館的紀念海報，我很愛那個質感但是買了也沒有地方貼，所以就byebye了。
另外一個主題館是古書。有從希臘圖書館借來展示，讓律流口水的五百年前的柏拉圖(笑)。
去年有算過城邦集團總共有六個館；今年到處走來走去都是根本就不想算了。倒是分了這麼多攤位，城邦的「1-5本書79折，6本書以上69折」就變的很沒有意義：總不能跟二館奇幻基地的店員說「我先拿四本基地到一館那裡再選兩本再結帳」這樣吧？幸好一館也有擺基地系列就是了。
或許城邦以後書展可以把世貿附近某個地方借來開「城邦館」，一次逛完旗下所有出版社還不用跟別的出版公司搶一、二、三館的攤位。
啊，在大塊那裡有看到幾米本人在簽書；沒帶相機超可惜的。那裡也有展各國版本的幾米繪本；像是向左走向右走的英文版與日文版。
另外一個會在書展做的事情是去台灣東販買River的書。我很訝異結帳的時候店員問我「要不要拿River親筆簽名的書呢？」拿到簽名書一方面是高興啦，另一方面心中的疑惑是「明明就是書展第一天限量的怎麼會剩到今天？」看來雖然River在網路上很有名，但是大家還是沒有用行動去支持River，特別是書大部分的內容在網路上都看的到的時候。
另外一個沒有賣光的東西是電話男限量公仔，所有的公仔屁股上都有River 2002年(汗)的簽名。每年都看到它，不過今年好像只剩下4個在攤位上；我覺得說不定明年就看不到它了就抓了一個。啊，反正River所有商品都買了，也不差一個公仔。
數位典藏國家型科技計畫是另一個每年必展，每年必逛的攤位。每次拿了它一本網站介紹，就會想「網站好多啊，有空一定要逛逛」但是都沒去。
雜誌廠商(PCHome、牛頓、遠流、國家地理雜誌等)的攤位全部都充滿了要你訂雜誌的業務，接近不能。有必要搞成這樣，對自己的商品這麼沒信心嗎？
完全接近不能的還有三館的出版社(青文、東立、木棉花等等)。我的天哪人怎麼可以多成這樣？進去要排隊而且要排一圈！只好在外面繞繞不進去了。我記的我唯一在書展買過的漫畫周邊是LOVE HINA的海報；那年東立的櫃檯是向外的，不用進去也買的到。也是要擠就是了。
最後，今年書展有個特別的攤位展了一台(我覺得)真正的電子書閱讀器。它的螢幕不是普通的電子辭典哪種強光下看不見的液晶，而是電子紙(?)。廣告說2/15會在網站上推出閱讀程式和一些免費的內容；機器要在五月才會推出。雖然說我不喜歡在螢幕上看漫畫或是小說(我這樣的人的存在是為什麼我家巷口漫畫店還沒倒的原因)，但是如果老師寄的作業PDF或是大家的blog能不用刺眼的電腦螢幕也不用帶笨重的筆記型電腦，那我還滿期待的(什麼都印出來的話就太浪費紙了)。
I went to Taipei International Book Exhibition 2006 today.
Titled “international”, it’s actually kind of domestic. The only international parts are the section for international publishers to trade their rights and a “Cultural Diversity in Europe” Pavilion. I couldn’t read German, French or Dutch, but I was interesting in the maps of Taiwan (titled “Ilha Formosa”) and photos of Taiwanese drew or taken by westerners in 17 and 18 century.
The largest Publishing group in Taiwan is Cite – they featured six pavilions last year and I decided not to count again today – it’s just too many. I bought the first four books of Asimov’s Foundation series; the Chinese edition had just re-published in recent years. Also, I happened to meet Jimmy Liao – a famous painter in Taiwan – signing his books in one of a Cite pavilions; Damn, I bring no camera! The pavilion also shows many of his works being translated to English, Japanese and many languages – like A Chance of Sunshine.
Another thing I would do in the book exhibition each year is to bought the latest book from River – an Internet cartoonist. I was surprised that I got a limited signed edition – it didn’t sold out these days after exhibition opening. Looks like that people just don’t support River by action – when they can see most of the work online 🙁 .
National Digital Archives Program features every years, with every years of my visiting and forgeting – they put so many great sites on the web and I just don’t check they out. I should put it in my del.icio.us then 🙂 .
Hall III featured all the major comic publisher (comic, or Japanese animé, is very popular among Taiwanese youths). I tried to get in one of the pavilions and I gave up because every one of them required a 10 mins plus wait.
That’s all for this year’s visit. Hope to see something different next year.
EPIC 2014(英文)
2014年，紐約時報正式走入歷史。第四權已途窮日暮。新聞與媒體發生了什麼事？EPIC又是什麼？
我在個板上post過這篇短片。這是一個網路上的媒體——如果你不知道的話，「網路」是媒體、「網路公司」是媒體公司——駁倒傳統媒體的故事。
它的第一句話「It is the best of times. It is the worst times.」和最後一句「But perhaps there was another way.」非常吸引我，雖然中間有點長而且和最近兩年的發展有點不符(完全沒有提到Yahoo!嗎？)看完之後可以想想這件事情會不會發生(笑)；當然，也要警惕不管未來的媒體形勢如何，會不會充斥著「充斥著感覺上不實、狹隘、膚淺的觀點」。媽啊，現在的「傳統」媒體就已經膚淺的要死了。
這裡有Google到的中文翻譯。
In Year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline. The Fourth Estate’s fortunes have waned. What happened to the news? And What is EPIC?
It’s a story about how Internet-based media wins and the other form of media has failed to exist – in the year 2014.
What I afraid is the saying about EPIC from the flash film: EPIC is merely a collection of trivia, much of it untrue, all of it narrow, shallow stand sensational. Gosh, the “traditional” media today in Taiwan is sensational enough.