林新惠的《零觸碰親密》是一部深入角色直至引發幽閉恐懼的作品。小說建構的世界令人讚歎不已，同時也是令人不寒而慄的思想實驗：如果有一天人工智能得以支配人類彼此的親密關係，會發生什麼？在一個身體接觸被明令禁止、人際關係被機械優化、自由意志近乎虛無的世界，個人的能動性將會發生什麼變化？ Read More
After a few days, my cousin was at our family dinner table. In his hands were some cards which always appeared in my childhood. “Hey Gi! Check out my new collections!” he said with a grin. He passed the cards to my hand, and I had an answer: “Claydol the Pokemon! They look like Dogū!” Read More
Director Chang Yi-ching's (張伊青) new documentary, 《做自己的條件》Be Myself, made its world premiere last night at the 25th annual Taipei Film Festival. Be Myself documents video editor Hsin-yu’s (欣嶼) journey through gender affirming surgeries and changing his legal gender from female to male. Chang’s new full-length documentary, running at 138 minutes, is the first of its kind, providing viewers with a detailed portrayal of female-to-male (FTM) transition and achieving new heights in FTM transgender representation in Taiwan. However, Be Myself suffers from a severe lack of sensitivity and accountability on the part of the director, as well as a narrative arc that ultimately centers Hsin-yu’s family members rather than himself and inadvertently perpetuates subtle forms of transphobia Read More
When I went to the gallery at Ho Sng House (about a 10-15 minute walk from Guting station) to see Peng Hsiung Hsu’s Sexca-paint (一邊打砲，一邊畫畫) exhibition, the artist was there in person to offer a guided tour. I was handed a lollipop as part of the experience: “The lollipop is part of the exhibition.” Read More
Shin Kamen Rider, the latest in Hideaki Anno’s “Shin” series reimagining Japanese classic television shows, is an effective action film and drama. If the film does not compare to the heights of 2016’s Shin Godzilla, it is still a cut above last year’s Shin Ultraman Read More
In comments last month, famed investor Warren Buffett justified his sale of 4 billion USD worth of stocks in TSMC on the basis of the geopolitical risk faced by the semiconductor manufacturing giant. While Buffett rather diplomatically praised the company’s management, as well as how it was run, Buffett stated that it was geopolitical risks that made him decide to sell stocks in TSMC. In particular, Buffett stated that he would rather own stocks in Japan or closer to home in the US Read More
New Bloom's Brian Hioe spoke with obese.dogma777, rEmPiT g0dDe$$, and Lumi about Eastern Margins' recent Road 2 Redline tour of Southeast Asia, collaborating with artists that previously worked on their Redline Legends album, released in 2021. The tour included stops in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Bandung, and Saigon Read More
Agnes Chew's Eternal Summer of My Homeland, written about the author’s homeland of Singapore while living in Germany, is a capable collection of short stories. Consisting of eleven short stories, the collection is briskly paced given their length Read More
A scandal has broken out after students were found to have been given sleeping pills at a preschool in Banqiao, New Taipei Read More
A review of “The Infinite Glory of the Military Police” in the Songshan Creative Park Read More
The DPP has been hit by successive scandals involving cases of sexual harassment or assault within the party. These incidents were mostly publicized on social media. Read More
bitters WEED (麻罪犯), a documentary focusing on the issue of cannabis criminalization in Taiwan, is an effective look at the issue Read More