Mooi Trouve

This cafe and curiosity shop is one of many of the ShiDa area's hidden gems. It a charmingly refurbished space, savouring the rustic character of the building's shell and pitched country cottage-like roof and beams, but adding contemporary and retro elements for style and comfort.

There is a generously sized courtyard with a large timber deck, and the side of the cafe facing the courtyard has been glazed with floor to ceiling windows to afford light and a view onto the courtyard.

I was disappointed to discover a lack of op-shopping opportunities in Taiwan. I was expecting a treasure trove of asian curiosities to rummage through, but alas, not so. Either Taiwanese people don't value recycling furniture and clothes and throw them out, or they hoard them away never to see the light of day. Who knows? So it was of some delight, that I shuffled around this little magpie's nest, adjoining the cafe at the front of the building. It's only small, but the curiosity shop is full of fab knick knacks, gifts, homewares, and the odd pieces of furniture, both retro and contemporary.

The courtyard deck.

Retro bits and pieces.

Fun window display.

The cafe. Exposed beams, clever refurb.

Peaking through the shelves of the curiosity shop into the cafe.

http://www.facebook.com/mooitrouve

Treasure Hill Arts Village

You would never expect this quaint little neighbourhood to be tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of Gongguan. Treasure Hill was formerly a settlement for KMT veterans in the 1940's. It has since been rejuvenated as an environmentally sustainable arts village.

It almost has a Mediterranean feel, as you wander through the jumble of lanes, stairways and rooftops arbitrarily connecting the buildings stacked like building blocks. The hill overlooks the Xindian River and there are many vantage points to appreciate it from.

It remains a residential community, with a few of the homes still inhabited. Other buildings have taken on a new lease of life, some are galleries, studios, cafes and there is even a youth hostel. It is a very welcoming environment, I felt at ease to wander around and experience some of the interactive elements.

(left) View of the village from the base of the hill. (right) Interior of one of the cafes.

(left to right) Wandering up the hill through one of the lanes. Another cute cafe. Making origami

rabbits and eating PB&J sandwiches in the cafe.

(left) Designing an evening lighting display for the village skyline. (right) A painting class

painting landscapes of the village.

(left) Detail of a humourous art installation. (right) Getting interactive and tryingto be

humourous with another installation.

Mike's 100 Fav Films

I'm a bit of a fan for compiling lists of personal superlatives. It's a fun way of organising your personality into list form. I've wanted to make my own top 100 films list for a while, mostly to see what it looks like as a complete entity and what it reveals about me. Also, because I love to recommend films.

So what does it reveal? A few things. The most obvious is that I have a penchant for sentimentality; coming of age films, underdogs overcoming obstacles, geeks becoming heroes, ugly ducklings, etc.

It's interesting to note the majority of films are from the 80's and 90's, my formative years. On this note, I have to point out that I called this list my 'fav films', as opposed to 'best films'. Films I like, rather than films I think are 'good'. Hence, a lot of films on this list I have significant emotional connections to. But then others I just find particularly entertaining, gripping or plain funny.

The other interesting thing that came out of this exercise, was noting where and when I saw these films. I was able to categorise the films according to specific periods of my life. For instance; the 80's, on video in my childhood neighbours' living room; early nineties, late teenage years and the independence to decide what films I watch; mid 90's, when I first started working in the cinema in Canberra; late 90's, working in the Prince of Wales Cinema in London; early naughties, the Palace Cinema in Brisbane, late naughties; the Sun Cinema in Melbourne. The films I've chosen from these different periods often reflect who I was and what was going on in my life.

Despite this predominately being an exercise in self indulgence, I hope you enjoy my fav film list. I'm sure it will tell you something about me. I hope it might encourage you to see one of the films. Even better, I hope it might encourage you to make your own list. And if you do, please share it with me!

1	Ferris Bueller's Day Off	John Hughes	1986	USA
2	The Piano	Jane Campion	1993	NZ/AUS
3	The Color Purple	Steven Spielburg	1985	USA
4	Amelie	Jean-Pierre Jeunet	2001	France
5	Magnolia	Paul Thomas Anderson	1999	USA
6	LA Story	Mick Jackson	1991	USA
7	Little Miss Sunshine	Jonathan Dayton	2006	USA
8	Once	John Carney	2006	Ireland
9	Not One Less	Yimou Zhang	1999	China
10	Lost in Translation	Sophia Copola	2007	USA
11	The Princess Bride	Rob Reiner	1987	USA
12	Cactus Flower	Gene Saks	1969	USA
13	Bring It On	Peyton Reed	2000	USA
14	A Room with a View	Merchant/Ivory	1985	UK
15	Amateur	Hal Hartley	1994	USA
16	Edward Scissorhands	Tim Burton	1990	USA
17	Bullets Over Broadway	Woody Allen	1994	USA
18	Everybody Famous	Dominique Deruddere	2000	Belgium
19	The Big Blue	Luc Besson	1988	France
20	Love Serenade	Shirley Barrett	1996	AUS
21	Orlando	Sally Potter	1992	UK
22	Wonderland	Michael Winterbottom	1999	UK
23	Fargo	Cohen Brothers	1996	USA
24	Parenthood	Ron Howard	1989	USA
25	Secrets and Lies	Mike Leigh	1996	UK
26	Anne of Green Gables	Kevin Sullivan	1985	Canada
27	Tootsie	Sydney Pollack	1982	USA
28	Breakfast at Tiffany's	Blake Edwards	1961	USA
29	Run Lola Run	Tom Tykwer	1998	Germany
30	The Dark Crystal	Jim Henson	1982	USA
31	Remains of the Day	James Ivory	1993	UK
32	Brokeback Mountain	Ang Lee	2005	USA
33	The Ice Storm	Ang Lee	1997	USA
34	Baraka	Ron Fricke	1992	USA
35	Stand By Me	Rob Reiner	1986	USA
36	The Party	Blake Edwards	1968	USA
37	Cyclo	Tran Anh Hung	1995	Vietnam
38	Slumdog Millionaire	Danny Boyle	2008	UK/India
39	All About My Mother	Pedro Almoldovar	1999	Spain
40	The Muppet Movie	James Frawley	1979	USA
41	Priscilla Queen of the Desert	Stephan Elliot	1994	AUS
42	The Castle	Rob Sitch	1997	AUS
43	A Fish Called Wanda	Charles Crichton	1998	UK
44	The Breakfast Club	John Hughes	1985	USA
45	Happiness	Todd Holondz	1998	USA
46	Inception	Christopher Nolan	2010	USA
47	The Year My Voice Broke	John Duigan	1987	AUS
48	Trainspotting	Danny Boyle	1996	UK
49	Bend It Like Beckham	Gurinder Chadha	2002	UK
50	The Blues Brothers	John Landis	1980	USA
51	Aliens	James Cameron	1986	USA
52	Pulp Fiction	Quentin Tarantino	1994	USA
53	Terminator 2	James Cameron	1991	USA
54	Being John Malkovich	Spike Jonze	1999	USA
55	Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind	Michel Gondry	2004	USA
56	The Lives of Others	Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck	2006	Germany
57	Pan's Labyrinth	Guillermo del Toro	2006	Spain
58	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	John Cameron Mitchell	2001	USA
59	Happy Together	Wong Kar-Wai	1997	HK
60	Brazil	Terry Gilliam	1985	UK
61	Rocky Horror Picture Show	Jim Sharman	1975	USA
62	The Wizard of Oz	Victor Fleming	1939	USA
63	The Shining	Stanley Kubrick	1980	USA
64	ET	Steven Spielburg	1982	USA
65	Heathers	Michael Lehmann	1988	USA
66	28 Days Later	Danny Boyle	2002	UK
67	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Ang Lee	2000	Taiwan/HK
68	Mary & Max	Adam Elliot	2009	AUS
69	The September Issue	R.J. Cutler	2009	USA
70	Naked	Mike Leigh	1993	UK
71	Reservoir Dogs	Quentin Tarantino	1992	USA
72	Pleasantville	Gary Ross	1998	USA
73	Annie Hall	Woody Allen	1977	USA
74	North By Northwest	Alfred Hitchcock	1959	USA
75	Like Water for Chocolate	Alfonso Arau	1992	Mexico
76	Life of Brian	Terry Jones	1979	UK
77	My Neighbour Totoro	Hayao Miyazaki	1988	Japan
78	9 to 5	Colin Higgins	1980	USA
79	Happy Gilmore	Dennis Dugan	1996	USA
80	Driving Miss Daisy	Bruce Beresford	1989	USA
81	It's a Wonderful life	Frank Capra	1946	USA
82	Steel Magnolias	Herbert Ross	1989	USA
83	Cocoon	Ron Howard	1985	USA
84	Ghostbusters	Ivan Reitman	1984	USA
85	The NeverEnding Story	Wolfgang Petersen	1984	USA
86	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Ken Hughes	1968	USA
87	Mighty Aphrodite	Woody Allen	1995	USA
88	Husbands & Wives	Woody Allen	1992	USA
89	This Is England	Shane Meadows	2006	UK
90	City of God	Fernando Meirelles	2002	Brazil
91	Man On Wire	James Marsh	2008	USA
92	Soapdish	Michael Hoffman	1991	USA
93	Fried Green Tomatoes	Jon Avnet	1991	USA
94	Napolean Dynamite	Jared Hess	2004	USA
95	Opposite of Sex	Don Roos	1998	USA
96	American Beauty	Sam Mendes	1999	USA
97	Mulholland Drive	David Lynch	2001	USA
98	Babel	Alejandro González Iñárritu	2006	USA
99	Notes on a Scandal	Richard Eyre	2006	UK
100	Best in Show	Christopher Guest	2000	USA

VVG

On the Saturday morning after Fred's surprise birthday t-shirt party, we went for a birthday brunch at VVG Bistro in DunHua.

I would describe the interior as stylish kooky/comfort. It is furnished with the usual mish mash of op-shop treasures that always do their part in making any venue halfway charming. The stand out features though, would be; the huge floor to ceiling windows at the front of the venue looking out into the patio garden, the open modern kitchen in the centre where the on-view food preparation adds to the lively bustle of the venue, and the use of unusual objects as wall decoration like, marbles, elastic bands, pasta, vacuum cleaner tubes, grappling hooks.

We ordered one of the famous set menus each. They were served on huge ceramic trays and consisted of a collection of dishes. Each dish is served in its own unique way, in small portions but together it all adds up to a very generous meal.

VVG encompasses a few venues; the VVG bistro, a restaurant VVG Table next door, a VVG B&B upstairs and an art and design bookstore VVG Something across the road. Their combined presence makes this patch of Taipei real estate ooze with style.

Chefs busy in the kitchen and a full house of dining punters makes for a lively atmosphere.

Huge windows looking onto the garden patio make for a conservatory feel.

Overwhelmed by the size and presentation of our lunch sets.

VVG Something, the art and design book store across the road.

T-Shirts Just Keep On Coming

Yet another t-shirt party. This time a surprise birthday party for Fred. More of the same; food, fun and creativity.

Designs this time included; squid head, lollipop wielding stranger, embracing kangaroos and the latest in Jason's 'b/d' series, binosaur.

Finished products hanging out to dry, and a weary screen taking a well-earned break.

Taipei Pottery Class

Recently, I mentioned to Fred that I had a hankering to take a pottery class. I wasn't expecting much, maybe just an opportunity to sit at the back corner of a community college and fumble my way through with my limited Chinese.

One evening, Fred asked me to meet him after work in the Zhongshan area. He had a surprise for me. I had a hunch it might be a pottery class, probably at the Museum of Contemporary Art which was in that area. But my suspicions were dispelled when we headed into the shady little lanes off the main street. So curious!

The studio, when we found it, was a pleasant surprise. It is tucked away on one of the many unassuming, non-descript Taipei lanes with no sign, lighting, paintwork, nothing to distinguish it from anything else. It is not big inside, but the space is used economically and comfortably. Everything has its place. The walls are lined with shelves of work in various stages of completion. There are three pottery wheels, a kiln, a sink, bins of clay and glazes, and a work table.

We spoke with the teacher and got a run down on how the classes worked. Simply, you could come in once a week and work on whatever project you wished. He would walk you through the process. He suggested starting with the basic pinch pot and working toward throwing pots on the wheel. This was exactly what I wanted. The only problem was that he couldn't speak English. So Fred was roped into coming along as well. We signed up there and then, and started our classes a week later.

We've been attending our classes for a couple of months now. It is a welcome escape from the tedium and toil of the working week. Just last week, Fred took home our first completed piece, a vase. For an absolute beginner I'm impressed with his skill.

Fred's first two pieces were a mug and bowl using the pinch pot method. Great shape for only using his fingers and thumbs.

Finished pieces set out to dry.

I made a tea set for my first piece. I am in Taiwan, after all.

The tricky part, attaching the spout.

T.Loafer

Inspiring Venues IV

This little cafe/bar was a lovely surprise. Unassumingly tucked away on one of Da'An's many lanes. T.Loafer is an incey wincey place that is big on coziness and charm. It is owned by a group of young friends who share the responsibilities of running this sweet little venue.

Primarily it's a hang out, a place to have a cup of tea, coffee, a beer or a bite to eat. They also sell the wares of local creative types like, jewelery, zines, potted plants, postcards, etc.

The main design feature of both the exterior and interior is the mosaic mish mash of windows. There's something about the ramshackleness and the cosy glow from inside that feels fairy tale-ish. Like you've discovered Red Riding Hood's house in the middle of Taipei.

You can find T.Loafer here: No.20, lane 141, sec. 2, Jinshan S Rd, Taipei.