Pentagons

Simple.

Just A Walk

The boy is an active person, much more so than I am. While I would choose to stay in bed to nurse a hangover, he would rather wake up early to hike and catch the rare Taipei rays during this time than waste time being indoors.

Thus, I have gotten more outdoor time, hiking trips and images of beautiful scenery in the past few weeks than I have in the first 5 months since moving back. I’ve discovered a delicious little French restaurant that serves amazing brunch 2 blocks away, a large traditional market with every type of fresh produce, lots of small parks and a handful of narrow alleys with a lot of character.

I completely forgot that there was a river fairly close to my apartment. There is a nice path and a lot of open space around the river banks for people to walk on.

the bridge near my apartment

The river itself isn’t very impressive. Like any other river running through a city, the water was rather murky and unpleasant. I was rather impressed to see fishes leaping out of the water at periodic intervals. Though we couldn’t figure out what type of the fish would lurk in such dire waters, we somehow came to the conclusion that it was probably mating season.

The unexpected garden

Along the banks, we stumbled across a very large and well attended garden. I’m assuming the Taiwanese government owns the land around the river but this garden was very clearing tended by private individuals that just wanted a space for themselves to grow  something. Having a yard or a garden in Taipei is unheard of since everyone lives in apartment buildings. Seeing green and having some space is a rare commodity in Asia, so it isn’t too hard to understand why someone would be tending a garden far from their own homes. There were a few middle aged women watering the flowers and being chatty. The flowers were beautiful and were as tall, if not taller than me, forming a slightly isolated flower wall.

“Traumgedanken” by Maria Fischer | conception and design of a book on the topic of “dream”

It’s unbelievable how lazy living in the Caribbean can make you. The sun, the sand and the lazy breeze – it’d make an insomniac fall asleep in a jiffy. Being the heavy sleeper that I am already, I’ve been racking in at least 10 hours of sleep in the past few days. I feel so incredibly lazy and slightly relieved (but mostly sad) that I’m not staying in Belize for an extended period of time.

Lots of sleep means lots of dreams. Lots of long, weird, random-ass dreams. But mostly I’m just impressed with my imagination and how real my dreams have been. Inception was such an awesome movie to me because they got all the aspects of dreams and dreaming correct. It’s so easy to watch and relate to all the different things in that movie, from the ‘kick’ to the compound passage of time. Dreams are fascinating.

I stumbled on Maria Fischer’s “Traumgedanken”, a book that contains a collection of  literary, philosophical, psychological and scientifical texts which provide an insight into different dream theories.[1] What makes the book unique though, is the design. The whole book is woven and tied together by a web of different color threads. Each color connects to a specific key word and touches each page that deals with that topic. There are several pages that sports beautiful thread illustrations. The design is a model of the nature of dreams; its complexity and fragileness.

幾米 Jimmy: 微笑的魚 A Fish With A Smile

I’ve been feeling pretty homesick for Taiwan recently.  In the past, I would go back every summer to get my fix but since I decided to stay in the States to look for a job, I couldn’t really leave.

One of my favorite books growing up in Taiwan was called Xei Xiao Der Yu or  “A Fish With A Smile”.  It’s written and illustrated by renowned Taiwanese illustrated Jimmy Liao. The premise is simple; a lonely man finds solace and comfort with his pet fish, who is always smiling at him. The illustrations are charming and warm and the story is heart-warming.

Dentsu: Beautiful Paint Sound Sculptures

Creative agency Dentsu put together a creative and beautiful ad for Canon Pixma called Bringing Colour To Life.  Essentially, they shot a series of paint sculptures, created by sound vibrations.  Paint drops were placed on top of a membrane, which wrapped around a speaker.  When music plays from the speakers, the vibrations cause the paint to jump into the air, creating these amazing shape or ‘sculptures’ for a split second.  High speed camera were used to capture these shots.

Jackson Pollock

I think I must have missed this website somehow.  Jackson Pollock.org is apparently one of the most famous works of internet art, made by Miltos Manetas in 2003.  You can make your own abstract art with your mouse!