Taiwan News Online

Today's Newsletter

Thursday, March 11, 2010

History Information

Year

Month

Day

Advertise

Forward

Text Format

HIGHTLIGHT

Justice Minister Wang refuses to approve executions 　

Justice Minister Wang Ching-feng said yesterday she'd rather resign than have one prisoner executed during her term in office. Wang came under fire from lawmakers for

Lakers snap 3-game skid on Kobe's late jumper 　

Kobe Bryant hit a 17-foot fallaway jumper with 1.9 seconds left, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter to snap their three-game

E-Lead aims to become car electronics leader 　

Few names are better known than E-Lead when it comes to VHS, camcorder and cellular phone accessories, car communications systems, and even Netbooks. From a

| Photo of the day | More local news |

United Daily News: Justice minister isn't a fourth trial judge 　

Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng, a former human rights lawyer, said recently

Taiwan shares open higher 　

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange's main index opened higher Thursday than its previous close, moving up 38.51 points

Today in history 　

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Today is Thursday, March 11, or the 26th day of the first month of the Year of

Lakers snap 3-game skid on Kobe's late jumper 　

Kobe Bryant hit a 17-foot fallaway jumper with 1.9 seconds left, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter to snap their three-game

Franchitti, Dixon favored as IndyCar season opens 　

Scotland's Dario Franchitti seeks his third season title in four years with New Zealand teammate Scott Dixon among his top rivals as the IndyCar season

English golfers on a roll with inspiration from past stars 　

English golf is riding high with 10 players ranked among the top 70 in the world and Paul Casey thinks the current situation can be

Bank of Korea keeps interest rate at record low 　

South Korea's central bank left its key interest rate at a record low Thursday amid international sovereign debt concerns and as the institution prepares for

Australia jobless rate rises slightly to 5.3 pct 　

Australia's unemployment rate edged up slightly to 5.3 percent in February, the first rise since peaking at 5.8 percent last October, the government said Thursday. Just

China limits bonuses for bankers to manage risk 　

China has tightened controls on pay for its top bankers, becoming the latest country to try to reduce financial risks by linking management of risk

Lakers snap 3-game skid on Kobe's late jumper 　

Kobe Bryant hit a 17-foot fallaway jumper with 1.9 seconds left, and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied in the fourth quarter to snap their three-game

Franchitti, Dixon favored as IndyCar season opens 　

Scotland's Dario Franchitti seeks his third season title in four years with New Zealand teammate Scott Dixon among his top rivals as the IndyCar season

English golfers on a roll with inspiration from past stars 　

English golf is riding high with 10 players ranked among the top 70 in the world and Paul Casey thinks the current situation can be

United Daily News: Justice minister isn't a fourth trial judge 　

Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng, a former human rights lawyer, said recently

Today in history 　

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Today is Thursday, March 11, or the 26th day of the first month of the Year of

Defending champions Pohang score 1st win 　

Defending Asian Champions League title holders Pohang Steelers overcame a first-match loss to beat Japan's Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-1 Wednesday on Almir's goal two minutes into

Jammin' in LA: Planning can route you to the cool sights 　

If you plan well and have a little luck, you can see the world in Los Angeles. If not, all you'll see is a world of traffic. More likely, you'll experience some of both. Tourists might think "Hollywood" when they begin to plan a vacation - and Hollywood is worth a day of sightseeing - but Los Angeles also is home to world-class museums, ethnic restaurants, interesting shops and farmers markets that make a winter-weary Midwesterner green with envy. With so many attractions, you may be tempted to try to do too much. But traffic can jam up seemingly at any time, any place, so the best thing a tourist can do is relax and go with the flow. If you must be somewhere at a specific time, leave early; if you end up with time to kill, chances are you'll find an interesting shop or restaurant to explore. A good place to start your trip is Hollywood and Highland, the neighborhood centered on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. This epicenter of Los Angeles mythology was sleazy and a bit scary just a few years ago. Thanks to several big-bucks developments, it has remade itself into a combination entertainment venue, upscale mall and tourist attraction. You can drop some serious money at a boutique or gawk for free at the costumed characters posing for photos outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre. (If you snap a picture, they expect a tip, of course). As I watched, a pair of buxom policewomen, the Grim Reaper, Catwoman, Charlie Chaplin and Buzz Lightyear worked the crowd. Supergirl stood apart, reading a book. SpongeBob SquarePants looked more creepy than cuddly. Many stars have homes nearby, and vendors selling maps are all around. You're on your own as to the maps' accuracy. Instead of buying a map, I hopped into one of Skyline Tours' open-air vans. Our guide was Ted Schmidt, a native of St. Louis. The other seven passengers were from Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Greece and Germany - a not uncommon mix, Schmidt said. His passengers often don't speak much English, but they all speak celebrity. The tour took us through Hollywood and Beverly Hills, with a stop at a scenic overlook on Mullholland Drive. Looking down, we could see LA spread before us. Looking up, we spotted a wooden house perched on a hill. It's one of several owned by Ron Howard, Schmidt said: "He writes there at night." Schmidt pointed out dozens of homes, including the one where Michael Jackson died. That house is clearly visible from the street, but many were shielded by hedges and privacy fences. Nevertheless, it was fun to get a sense of where - and how - Hollywood stars live. Once you've spied on celebrities' homes, you might want to get a closer look at the people. Sure, you could try to find the real deal - Larry King has breakfast each morning at a Beverly Hills delicatessen called Nate 'n Al should you have the urge to stalk, Schmidt says - or you could go for the next best thing and visit Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. The wax depictions are pretty realistic, but the real fun is watching visitors interact with the figures. Props are available to make photographs more fun. You can jump on a camel next to Lawrence of Arabia, hop into the chair next to Captain Kirk or buddy up to Jennifer Lopez. For a chance to see real stars and to get some exercise, head to Runyon Canyon Park, high in the Santa Monica Mountains. The park is crisscrossed with sandy and packed-dirt trails - some fairly level, some almost vertical - that will bring you to some of the best views around. On the rare clear day, you can see the ocean. Even on a hazy day, you'll get a good view of the Hollywood sign. Below, the city spreads to the horizon. Regular visitors say that the canyon is a favorite of celebrities walking their dogs. I saw plenty of dogs, but no celebrities. I ascended into the Santa Monica Mountains again to visit the Getty Center (a companion museum to its older sibling, the Getty Villa in Malibu). The views vie for attention with the art - and the art is amazing. Trams carry visitors from the underground parking garage up to a complex designed by noted architect Richard Meier. The five buildings are made mostly of golden brown travertine stone - look closely, and you may see leaf fossils. The landscaping includes a cactus garden and a maze. The art collection features modern sculpture, and European and American paintings, drawings, decorative arts and illuminated manuscripts. Paintings are housed on the top floors of the buildings to take advantage of natural light. Walking into a gallery of European impressionists was like walking into an art-history textbook: Monet's water lilies, Van Gogh's irises, works by Pissaro, Renoir, Degas, Gauguin, Cezanne and Manet adorned the walls. A special photography exhibition called Urban Panoramas is on display through June 6. I found Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao's photos of New York and Catherine Opie's photos of Los Angeles' minimalls absorbing; Soo Kim's layered, hand-cut prints of Reykjavik, Iceland, taken at midnight during the summer solstice were amazing. We headed into the mountains one last time to visit the Griffith Park Observatory, which is on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood. Even if you've never been there, the Greek-style building will look familiar - it's a popular setting for movies, most notably the 1955 James Dean classic "Rebel Without a Cause." While the observatory looks much as it did when it opened in 1935, it recently was expanded and meticulously renovated. Workers lifted the concrete structure off its foundation and evacuated underneath, making way for an underground addition of nearly 40,000 square feet of public space. You can browse the exhibits and catch a star show in the planetarium; if you visit after dark, you can climb to the top of the observatory and look through its telescope. Down at sea level, I spent a day in the neighboring beach towns of Santa Monica and Venice. Instead of eating breakfast, I started at a farmers market held from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each Wednesday at Arizona Avenue and Second Street in Santa Monica. About 75 growers have booths, and much of the produce is organic. Organic sweet limes were sweet enough to eat out of hand. Like the organic pink Cara Cara navel oranges, they cost US$2 a pound; organic tangerines were US$3 a pound. I also saw Asian vegetables of every description, six types of candy-sweet organic dates, perfect red strawberries, olives and olive oil, walnuts and walnut oil, and five colors of carrots (purple, yellow, tomato-orange, green-yellow and regular orange). Pagoda-shaped heads of green cauliflower looked like lacy works of art. Live music played, the crowd swirled and a cheesemaker sang out an invitation: "Fresh mozzarella, don't be shy to buy, made yesterday." Santa Monica also is known for its Third Street Promenade, a pedestrian-only stretch lined with restaurants and shops, and its wooden pier, complete with a vintage carousel, a Ferris wheel and a trapeze school. After exploring the pier, I set out for Venice on South Bay Bicycle Trail, a coastal path that stretches 22 miles, from Will Rogers Beach in the north to Torrance Beach in the south. You'll find bike rental shops along the way, so pick a good starting (and ending) point. Prices range from about US$10 an hour to about US$25 for a full day, including a helmet. Venice Beach is about two miles from Santa Monica, but it's a whole other world - or at least another decade. Sitar music and the scent of patchouli waft along the boardwalk. "Kush" doctors legally dispense medical marijuana - the smell of that wafts here and there, too. You can get a tattoo or a piercing, haggle with sidewalk vendors for art or jewelry, grab a slice of pizza and listen to the street musicians, including a classic pianist. If you venture a few blocks from the boardwalk to Abbot Kinney Boulevard, you'll find yet another scene. This is a great shopping street with unique clothing stores, furniture stores, accessories shops, restaurants and bars. I especially enjoyed browsing through Ten Women, a small storefront that sells jewelry, fabric art, glassware and other objects from local artists. Perhaps the most famous farmers market in Los Angeles is not so much a place to buy fruits and vegetables (although you can do that) as an outdoor restaurant venue and souvenir emporium. Go hungry if you visit the Farmers Market at Fairfax Avenue and Third Street: temptations include bakeries, candy shops and restaurants of almost every description. Next door is the Grove, a new and exceedingly upscale mall. We ended our trip in Long Beach. The city's biggest tourist attraction is the Queen Mary, berthed just offshore. The ship was launched in 1934 as a luxury liner. Pressed into service as a troop transport and hospital ship during World War II, she served honorably and well. When the Queen Mary re-entered civilian life, she also began her glory years. She transported Hollywood royalty - reflected in the photos of Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Swanson and other stars - and British royalty, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Then came jet airplanes, and ship travel fell from favor. Long Beach bought the Queen Mary in 1967 for US$3.45 million. Today, it is a hotel and a banquet and wedding venue. Visitors can stroll the decks and check out the historical displays. The Observation Bar, glorious in its art deco design, has live music on weekends. About 1,000 wedding receptions are held on the Queen Mary each year, said Will Kayne, an actor who auditioned for a show on the Queen Mary 10 years ago and now portrays the ship's captain. Close to 2 million people visit annually, and about a third of them stay on board. "You really feel you are away when you stay here," Kayne said. Another view of sea life is on display at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Outdoors, you can catch a sea lion show or pet a (small) shark. Indoor exhibits showcase various habitats: Orange and ghostly white jellyfish float and pulse. Bright turquoise, fuchsia and orange fish dart about a tank as visiting children invoke the names of the characters in "Finding Nemo." Weedy-looking sea dragons float by, mesmerizing the people crowding around. Planning a trip to Los Angeles and navigating the freeways once you arrive can be daunting. But with proper planning - and like those sea dragons, a go-with-the-flow attitude - you can bring home a world of memories. IF YOU GO: CARS - Although Los Angeles has mass transit, you'll need a car to really see the area. Rental rates vary widely and tend to be higher close to LAX. You may save money by taking a cab or shuttle to your hotel and renting a car from a nearby location. I've gotten good rates from Midway Car Rental, 1-800-824-5260 and midwaycarrental.com. HOTELS - Every chain imaginable is in the area, and locally owned hotels are plentiful. I booked a room at the Hilton in Glendale (in the San Fernando Valley) for US$65 a night through Priceline.com. Parking was US$18 a night. I also stayed at two unique hotels, the Embassy Hotel Apartments in Santa Monica and the Queen Mary in Long Beach. EMBASSY HOTEL APARTMENTS 1001 Third Street, Santa Monica 1-310-394-1279; embassyhotelapts.com A stay at the Embassy Hotel Apartments might remind you of noir films and old Hollywood. The hotel is on a tree-lined street in a predominantly residential area just blocks from the beach and from the shops, restaurants and bars that make up the Third Street Promenade. THE QUEEN MARY 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach 1-877-342-0742; queenmary.com The Queen Mary has 314 hotel rooms, all created from the ship's first-class suites and staterooms. Cruise ships are not known for their spacious cabins, and our room in the Queen Mary was no exception. Unfortunately, the room also was dark and in need of updating.

Bergman film festival kicks off on Nov. 28 in Taipei, Taiwan 　

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Bergman Film Festival will kick off on Nov. 28 at Spot Taipei Film House. A series of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's

New Zealand woman sells souls to highest bidder 　

The rare spirits that went under the gavel at a recent online auction in New Zealand weren't aged brandies or hard-to-find liqueurs. Instead, two glass vials

Yaung's failure is no 'shock' for Taiwan 　

The sudden resignation of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang due to backtracking in President Ma Ying-jeou's right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) on national health insurance system

Why Israel jailed me for 'talking too much' 　

The Palestinian elected leadership is weak. And even with Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this week, the renewed

Anthem becomes Obama's Exhibit A for health-care reform 　

On a warm Friday in early November, California's largest for-profit health insurer submitted a request to regulators in Sacramento. Anthem Blue Cross was seeking double-digit