Taiwan Fashionista

The Taipei Car Show 6: Porsche Panamera 2

2010-01-02T02:34:00.001-08:00

For all the Porsche fans I offended with my previous post, here's another dose of happiness: the same Panamera 4S as seen from the front. Sort of proves my point that all Porsches look very much the same, but hey, if that look is nice, why not. It kept the brand alive, which is more than you could say for Saab.
Surprisingly, the bankrupt General Motors daughter was quite strongly represented at the Taipei Car Show.
Totally absent were: the rest of the GM House of Horrors including Opel, all Italian car brands you can think of, Renault and Citroen from France.
Present: China's Chery whose cars I had never seen before, Taiwan's new Luxgen brand with the minibus and the even newer SUV, South Korea's Hyundai with a car that looked like a cheap Chinese Mercedes S-class ripoff, and of course all the big Japanese and German guys. Europe's car of the year, the tiny Volkswagen Polo, had just one modest yellow version present. Still, a well-spent morning at the Taipei Car Show. But next time, include the Italians.

The Taipei Car Show 5: Porsche Panamera

2010-01-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

I'm one of those simple people who think all Porsches are alike and their looks never changed in 30 or 40 years.
The Cayenne was the first sign that something was happening in Porscheland, an SUV or a Porsche on stilts.
The next find: a Porsche for people who want to sit in the back of a car. The Panamera. With a car like a Porsche, you probably want to sit behind the wheel.
Let's hope the merger with Volkswagen only gives them good ideas, not Baby Porsches.

The Taipei Car Show 4: Mercedes F700

2010-01-02T02:24:00.000-08:00

I'm not one for concept cars but here is one I've been hearing a lot about for a long time: the Mercedes F700, no doubt a model for any future S-class or for the successor to the Maybach superMerc.

It looks a bit Alien and Predator at the front with the heavy grille and the Man with the Iron Mask type headlights, but it's still a car worth mentioning. Even if I had the money, I wouldn't be buying it though. If I had the money, I'd probably be looking at one of their convertibles which were not at the show, such as the CLK and SLK.

The Taipei Car Show 3: Jaguar XJ

2010-01-02T02:18:00.001-08:00

The brand new Jaguar XJ to me was the revelation of the Taipei Car Show. It was also my biggest headache.

Because of all the sharp spotlights positioned around the car, I had an extremely tough time trying to take a picture that made the car look less than a reflection of those lights. By the time I got more or less successful, the show had started and this Coco Lee lookalike was positioned next to the car.

Talking about the car, I hadn't even seen a picture of it before I visited the show this morning, so expecting to see the XF coupes, I was totally blown away by this saloon. Heavy, I heard a woman behind me say. Not half as heavy looking as the Mercedes S-class or the BMW 7-series, I thought. Congratulations, Tata and the Jaguar designers. You have a winner.

The Taipei Car Show 2: Aston Martin

2010-01-02T02:13:00.000-08:00

Aston Martin created quite a media stir in Taiwan recently by opening its first store in the country. It's on Taipei's Zhongcheng Road, next to the huge BMW dealership across the road from the new Sogo Tienmu. The store has windows which let you see only the cars, not the feet or heads of its customers.

Anyway, Taiwanese wanting to drive like James Bond should be happy. There were three models on show today: the DBS in the picture, a DB9 and a Vantage.

The Taipei Car Show 1: Bentley

2010-01-02T02:07:00.000-08:00

Took a couple of pictures at the Taipei Car or Motor Show this morning, so since I've got nowhere to post them, I just thought about dumping them here.
The pictures are nothing special, but the cars are great. This one is the new Bentley Continental Super Sports. Apart from its high price and high speed, it's also known for being environmentally friendly: its fuel is any mixture of gasoline and ethanol. You decide how much of which fuel you put in the tank, though I'd be hard-pressed to know where in Taiwan you could find ethanol. Anyway, a great car, one I would want to see James Bond drive in one of his next movies. Note also the Aston Martins in the background.

50,000

2008-12-01T15:49:00.001-08:00

50,000 words.
That's all it takes. Every year, November is National Novel Writing Month, organized through the web site www.nanowrimo.org.
You just missed it this year, but I can tell what it's all about.
The only thing is, you have to write at least 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. Yes, according to the rules it has to be novel, but since nobody is going to read it - you don't have to post it on the site for everyone to see - there are cheaters about. People who write the English word "a" dozens or even a hundred times, one after the other. It's possible to do that, but it's not a novel. Since the word counter on the site is just a machine, nobody will ever notice. Since the prize for writing 50,000 words at the end of the month, is just an Internet badge like the ones you see on this blog right now, it doesn't matter.
Or does it? If you've always wanted to write, of course you want to be writing something that's English - or any other language, because NaNoWriMo is no longer just an English-language obsession - coherent and readable. If you're already into writing, you know that 50,000 words are not enough. A manuscript you want to present to an agent or publisher, has to be 100,000 words long, if we're talking about a conventional novel.
You saw my badge, so you know I won.
My first NaNo was last year, and like nearly every beginner, I had no idea how far I would get. Would I be able to reach even 10,000 words in one month? 30,000? Or would it be really easy to reach 50,000?
In the end, my NaNo 2007 went all the way to 72,000 words. Like many other participants, I didn't just stop at 50,000, because I wanted my story to be complete. I went on until its natural ending. Was it easy? No. It's all about keeping on writing without looking back. "Switching off your inner editor," as writerly types describe it on forums. The average you need to write every day is 1,667 words, so I like to go way over that in the beginning, just to be on the safe side. Some people begin writing only around the middle of the month, and they still manage to reach the finish line in good shape.
NaNo 2008 was somewhat different for me. I wasn't even planning to take part. Because I now had a job - the major difference with 2007 - I thought I wouldn't have the time. But as November 1 approached, I got caught up in the enthusiasm thrilling the writers' forums. Even worse, I thought, if I managed 72,000 words last year, why couldn't I write 100,000 this time?
Instead of doing just one novel all the way from beginning to finish, I decided to do two 50,000-word stories. Technically, this meant I had to take on two identities on the NaNoWriMo site.
Then there was the question of writing strategy. I first thought about spending 90 minutes each day on one story, and then switching to the other for the remaining 90 minutes I had available. But then I thought, this mental switch might be too difficult, so I settled on writing one story one day and the other the next. Or so I thought.
Once I started writing the first story on November 1 - you're not allowed to start earlier, though you can do an outline so you know where your story is headed - things went so well that I decided to stick with one story all the way. So what happened, was that I wrote one story from November 1 to November 15, reaching 50,888 words. I wrote the second story from November 16, making it just past the 50,000-mark on the last day, November 30, reaching 50,581 words. By the way, the word count functions in Word and on the NaNo site are somewhat different, so don't think that by writing 50,001 words in Word you will make the grade.
In the end, what I have now are one piece of fanfiction which is unpublishable in the real world, but which I can post on one of several fanfiction sites, and one story or half-novel that I will be turning into a full 100,000-word novel over the next couple of months before sending it out to publishers. That's the wonder of NaNo: without it, I would still be plodding around. Now I have 50,000 words. Even if there are gaping plot holes and inconsistencies, I have the words out there and I can go out and fix them.
One other thing has changed: there is no doubt in my mind that I will be taking part in NaNo 2009!

Bond Fever

2008-10-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

Bond Fever hitting Taiwan? Not too certain yet, since the biggest blockbuster of the past few months is local romance "Cape Number Seven." the largest Taiwanese movie hit in 10 or 20 years.

So Bond might need more than a Quantum of Solace to change that. According to reviews, the new Bond gives a lot of action, maybe too much, little romance, little humor, and tough mano-a-mano combat of the type we know from presumed Bond rival Jason Bourne. But I can live with that.

A Quantum of Solace, in Taiwanese cinemas from November 7.

My Name Is Placement, Product Placement

2008-10-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

The new James Bond, 'Quantum of Solace,' is coming to Taiwan on November 7. Apart from Daniel Craig, the stars of this movie seem to be the numerous products from the Ford Ka to the cell phones.

Double Ten by Night

2008-10-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should be turning this blog into a garbage can - sorry, receptacle - for random pictures of Taiwan.

Like this one, one of three pictures I took while passing by the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall around 9 in the evening.

With the special lights and the flags added for Double Ten - Taiwan's national day on October 10.

Taiwan Fashionista

2008-08-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

For the old content that used to be on this page, go to the new blog Concentric by Rio Moss at http://riomoss.blogspot.com.
I cannot predict when and if I will be posting about style, fashions and leisure in Taiwan, but hey, let's find out.

Enzo Ciancia for S2S, Senses to Senses