Alexander McQueen

(photo source: "RIP.....Iconic British Fashion Designer Alexander Mcqueen Dies." Nick Verreos: Where Style Happens. by Nick Verreos. <http://nickverrreos.blogspot.com/2010/02/iconic-british-fashion-designer.html>. This photo is taken intact from the aforementioned source and is therefore subject to immediate removal upon notice.)

Cindy Hsieh

   
   In an enormous glass case, one after another veiled models walked out from the backstage. Some of them wandered at the center of the catwalk, despising the audience. Others looked panicky, ripping off part of their dresses. At the end of the fashion show, a dark glass case in the middle of the stage was opened. Maybe “open” is not correct. You could see the glass walls fall smashed and all the moths in the case fly out. A woman who wore a gas mask laid down in the middle of the case, imitating the work of photography, Sanitarium (1983), by Joel-Peter Witkin.

     Entitled “VOSS” in Autumn/Winter 2001, this is one of the iconic fashion shows of Alexander McQueen’s. This British luxury brand is founded by the designer Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010), who brought low-rise “bumster” trousers to a peak development. His works could be summed up in two words: “savage beauty.” He wanted people to feel repulsed or exhilarated while watching his fashion show. “If you leave without emotion then I’m not doing my job properly,” McQueen said, “I don’t want you to walk out feeling like you’ve just had Sunday lunch.” Every time I watch his show, I feel that he gouged out the darkness from his deep heart and transformed it into sensuous haute couture works. Those models who wore Alexander McQueen’s design were just like a group of beasts ran out from McQueen’s mind. Undoubtedly, his design was aggressive, but elegant.

     At the age of forty, McQueen committed suicide by hanging himself at home. To clarify the cause of McQueen’s death, lots of people trace back to his bipolar disorder, substance overdose problem, and even his miserable childhood. However, just like the announcement published on Alexander McQueen’s official website, “At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news.” All we can do is to appreciate his devotion to fashion design and art. Although there are several fashion designers who make haute couture like art works, such as Viktor & Rolf, and Iris Van Herpen, none can ever create savage fashion design or hold fashion shows as Alexander McQueen did. Now, there is a good chance to get to know Alexander McQueen better with the help of the archive of this irreplaceable designer’s documentaries.

The 499 Chaos

(photo source: 自由時報 screen capture from video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bE9DgSPCo>) 

 

Florence Huang

    Chunghwa Telecom offers several contract deals priced respectively at NT$ 399, 499, and 599 per month, each with a contract period of 30 months. However, last month, the NT$ 499 deal (henceforth referred to as the 499 deal) attracted a great number of people. The deal promises not only 180 minutes of free phone calls, but also unlimited access to the Internet. This special deal causes lots of people to give up their original telecom service and would rather pay a compensation for breaking the original contracts in order to change to Chunghwa Telecom for the 499 deal.

     Chunghwa Telecom lunches the 499 NT deal to undercut its competitors, FarEastOne and Taiwan Mobile, who want to attract more clients and make them enter into a long-term binding contract. This was the reason why there was a long line of people waiting in front of every Chunghwa Telecom store. Besides, too many people wanted the 499 deal, the Chunghwa Telecom staff were forced to work over time. Most of them were exhausted, and there was even one who collapsed during the chaos. However, the other two telecom companies were afraid that they would keep on losing their clients to Chunghwa Telecom, so both began to offer deals similar to the 499 deal.

     Seeing the chaos gets wilder and wilder, someone finally stepped in. National Communications Commission (NCC) fined Chunghwa Telecom NT$ 2,000,000 for inappropriate business operation, over working its employees, and impairing consumer rights. In addition, FarEastOne and Taiwan Mobile also got fined.

     In fact, a similar situation where people swarmed in for something happened in February this year—the tissue paper panic. There was a rumor that the tissue paper manufacturers would raise prices around April. Many people didn't want to pay more for tissue paper. Therefore, they bought a lot of tissue paper to hoard before prices rise. However, why would people in Taiwan have such crazy behavior just for saving a few dollars? On the one hand, it is probably because the average salary in Taiwan is low; on the other hand, it shows that we’re now experiencing an economic recession. These two reasons make people try to spend as little money as they can and limit their spending on money-for-value consumer goods so as to save money.

     The same situation might happen again in the future. Unfortunately, the salary issue and our economic recession does not seem likely to go away in a short time. What we can do now is hoping the government can do make some changes as soon as possible; otherwise, there might be more exhausted and overloaded employees during potential follow-up chaoses or panics.

Rediscover the Joys of Life with Christopher Robin

(photo source: Disney Taiwan <http://www.disney.com.tw/> This photo here is taken intact from the aforementioned source and is therefore subject to immediate removal upon notice)

 Florence Huang

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing everyday

–Winnie the Pooh

Disney produces some successful live action films in the recent years, such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and Beauty and the Beast etc. This summer, they prepared a new heartwarming live action movie, Christopher Robin.

Christopher Robin, who is all grown up now and becomes a working-class family man. He has lost the sight of what is important in life. He returns to Hundred Acre Wood after an unexpected visit from Winnie the Pooh. After a short adventure, Pooh and the friends realize that they should help Christopher Robin to rediscover happiness.

Some people might think that although Disney remakes their old animated films into live actions films, the stories and the characters are still for children. However, this is the reason why Disney remakes their films. They remind us through those characters from our childhood that in this hustle-bustle world, grownups should still keep a pure heart and childlike happiness in their lives. Just like the saying goes, “People say nothing is impossible”. It is an encouraging sentence for children, but for adults, it becomes a struggle. Most of us have become Christopher Robin. We can’t find a balance between work, friendship, and life. We are busy all day, and sometimes we have to sacrifice something important to us in order to achieve other things that we need. Gradually, we lose our joys.

Walt Disney said “Everybody in the world was once a child.” Therefore, sometimes we should slow down our life pace, without thinking of the future or the past. What we need to do is to find the clean and unspoiled world which hides deep in each of our hearts, and then we can taste the happiness that we thought we had lost. That world also reminds us not to forget and also cherish the most innocent moment we had.

The full trailer has released, and comments acclaim it one of the most adorable and heartwarming films. It receives a lot of positive comments. In addition, lots of people comment that Winnie the Pooh is their best childhood memory, and they get emotional while watching the trailer. It seems like Christopher Robin is going to be Disney’s next big hit.