A T Beaune 唐博訥

Take *that*, O fields who have relied exclusively on verbal, handwavy theory!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directe...

Pan’s Labyrinth perhaps points a way forward...?

First forbidden word of 2027? ‘Masterclass.’

Everything on social media is now a masterclass. Favourite movie scene? A masterclass. Favourite beer? A masterclass. Favourite sexual position? Masterclass! Masterclass!

😅

Happy Juliette Binoche’s birthday to those who celebrate. 🎈

Traditional Palauan canoe arrives in Kaohsiung - Focus Taiwan A traditional voyaging canoe from Palau arrived at Kaohsiung Port on Saturday, where Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) held a ceremony to welcome the crew making an ambitious Pacific voyage guided entirely by traditional navigation.

🌊 Taiwan welcomes the crew of a traditional oceangoing canoe from Palau.The Alingano Maisu has undertaken an ambitious journey around the western Pacific.

focustaiwan.tw/culture/2026...

Greetings from Taiwan, where we don’t reset our clocks.

😎

The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time Buy The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

You can’t help but trust people. We are a social species that survives through cooperation. You can’t drive down a 2-lane road without trusting perfect strangers with your life.

Individuals exist who turn this necessity to personal advantage. I recommend a book:
www.amazon.com/Confidence-G...

Screenshot of Chinese text, with "St Penis" appearing in the Latin alphabet

Today in Very Serious Research™️

Ever wonder how Paris' reputation as 'city of love' came about?

You'll have to thank 1920s Chinese travel writers for successfully rebranding the Seine St Denis as 'Saint Penis,' it seems...

Traditional Palauan canoe arrives in Kaohsiung - Focus Taiwan A traditional voyaging canoe from Palau arrived at Kaohsiung Port on Saturday, where Taiwan's Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) held a ceremony to welcome the crew making an ambitious Pacific voyage guided entirely by traditional navigation.

🌊 Taiwan welcomes the crew of a traditional oceangoing canoe from Palau.The Alingano Maisu has undertaken an ambitious journey around the western Pacific.

focustaiwan.tw/culture/2026...

💂 News from the UK

Courier Prime: A Better Courier, Free to Use A Better Courier, Free to Use

Need a good Courier font? The digital grandbaby of IBM electric typewriters? Screenwriting pros have you covered.

Download these and dump the default. Free, open source.

Courier Prime
Courier Prime Sans
quoteunquoteapps.com/courierprime/

Courier Screenplay
www.fadeinpro.com/page.pl?cont...

Taiwan investment in EU grows 650% over decade amid closer trade ties - Focus Taiwan Taiwan's investment in the European Union (EU) has surged 650% over the past decade as trade ties between the two economies continue to strengthen, according to data from Taiwan's International Trade Administration (ITA).

🇪🇺 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 🇹🇼 Taiwan’s investment in the European Union (EU) has surged 650% over the past decade as trade ties between the two economies has grown. The EU is Taiwan’s fourth-largest trading partner and largest source of foreign investment.

focustaiwan.tw/politics/202...

191 extra high-speed trains to run for Tomb Sweeping Festival - Focus Taiwan Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) said Tuesday it will add 191 train services during the upcoming Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday, with ticket bookings available from 12 a.m. Thursday.

🧹 Expect to be in Taiwan April 3–6 for the Ancestors Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day)? You will have many more high-speed rail options to help you get where you want to go.

focustaiwan.tw/society/2026...

Taiwan's Lin Yun-ju finishes as men's singles runner-up at Singapore Smash - Focus Taiwan Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒), Taiwan's top-ranked male table tennis star, won silver in the men's singles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Grand Smash in Singapore on Sunday.

🏓Lin Yun-ju of Yilan, Taiwan, aka ‘The Silent Assassin’, is expected to rise to world #7 in table tennis after a big finish in the Singapore Smash.

focustaiwan.tw/sports/20260...

Young generation carries 228 Incident memories 79 years after massacre - Focus Taiwan Nearly eight decades after the 228 Incident, Taiwanese civic groups are breathing new life into the preservation of a collective memory as part of a concerted effort to resist the erosion of history.

2-28 commemorates the 1947 massacre of Taiwan residents by new Chinese colonisers in the aftermath of WW2. For decades, officially, this national trauma ‘never happened’. Residents of today’s democratic Taiwan are determined that it is never forgot. 🌴

focustaiwan.tw/culture/2026...

Exuberance is Beauty.

– William Blake

Aerial view of Taipei City in pre-dawn light, showing the Taipei 101 skyscraper against a backdrop of mountains.

MELODIA is now streaming on The Short Film Show! We’re proud to be spotlighted on this new platform dedicated to celebrating short films at their best. Click the link to watch!

theshortfilmshow.com/film/melodia...

#shortfilm #indiefilm #filmmaking #music #theshortfilmshow #shortfilmshow #cinema

Art is also just another way of life, and you can prepare for it, without realizing you are doing so, by just living.

– Rainer Maria Rilke

Debut accomplished.
More adventures await!

Taiwan's Martial Law-era archives fully declassified - Focus Taiwan Taiwan's top intelligence agency said Monday that it has completely declassified tens of thousands of political archives it possessed from the Martial Law period and transferred them to the National A...

🇹🇼 Tens of thousands of political documents from Taiwan’s years of one-party rule have been fully declassified by its top intelligence agency. All pre-1992 records have been transferred to the National Archives for public view with no redactions.

focustaiwan.tw/politics/202...

‘They’re plagiarising our plagiarism!’

AI likely is inevitable. The tech has been with us now for years.

This doesn’t mean *generative* AI tools in their currently hyped forms are all that, though.

Spellcheck and Siri were interesting before both became punch lines. Both are still with us, to be sure, but... they are what they are.

Globalisation is still happening. The term has passed out of fashion in this decade but the phenomena the term describes are still very much with us. If not inevitable, they are still doing a good imitation.

No work can be truly great if it is not about ourselves, and unless it tells us what it is like to be alive.

– Philip Pullman

People have long been this way. A smile means someone is selling them something, the thinking goes, so only insults can be trusted.

Baftas 2026: The winners list in full - BBC News One Battle After Another won six awards, followed by I Swear, Sinners and Frankenstein, with three each.

🇬🇧 Complete list of BAFTA finalists and award winners. Congratulations to all!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

US Imports More from Taiwan Than China in Major Milestone - Newsweek Taiwan edged Germany last year to become the U.S.'s fourth-largest trade partner.

🇹🇼 As of December 2025, Taiwan is the USA’s fourth-largest trade partner, surpassing Germany and China. The trend is expected to continue.

www.newsweek.com/us-imports-m...

Closeup of a smartphone being held by a woman in a restaurant to photograph a can of Japanese seasoning. Dots on the can echo the shape of her phone’s lenses.

Dot Motif
Taipei, Taiwan 2026

Czech author reflects on cultural erasure under authoritarian rule - Focus Taiwan When best-selling Czech author Kateřina Tučková was in Taiwan earlier this month to promote the Chinese version of her novel "The Last Goddess," she said she felt the story would resonate with Taiwanese readers because of a common authoritarian past.

📖 ‘When best-selling Czech author Kateřina Tučková was in Taiwan earlier this month to promote the Chinese version of her novel ‘The Last Goddess,’ she said she felt the story would resonate with Taiwanese readers because of a common authoritarian past.’

focustaiwan.tw/culture/2026...

Gustave Doré illustration for Paradise Lost. Lucifer, perched on a cliff, surveys the Garden of Eden.

📖 Reading ‘Paradise Lost’ by John Milton again and enjoying the hell out of it.

Pun intended.