Based off a tip from my friend Brian, I took a trip over to Liuzhangli MRT Station to see a billboard for Taiwan’s Military. The billboard is located on the wall of the Taiwan Recruitment Center. He told me I had to see it for myself and call him as soon as I saw it. The trip was worth it. To best describe the billboard, I have to use the US military slogan “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Those familiar with this slogan will get the joke right away. For the rest of you, I’ll fill you in after the picture.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The term “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” refers to a US military policy that prohibits: “anyone who “demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts” from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because it “would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.” So basically if you’re gay, don’t tell them about it.

The picture above is wrong on so many levels. In the US, peoples idea of military men are that they are hard core and tough. Obviously from this picture, Taiwan is a little different. Normally military is used to strike fear into your opponents, but I doubt China would be scared after seeing this photo.

The billboard just emanates….how can I put it lightly…..gay. The main picture has 10 half naked men laying on top of each other forming a pyramid, one is making a cutesy face with his fingers pointed into his cheeks, while 3 others look like they are 4 year old girls taking a birthday photo. A Taiwanese person would say “Oh, no, no, they are just showing how happy they are, and how fun it is to be in the military!” I just want to know why they are smiling so much…

The lower left picture doesn’t help much either. The half naked guys are tied up, perhaps appealing to the fetish crowd?

Bondage?

The thing with Taiwan is that not only do the guys act feminine, but now the military does too. Where does the madness end?

After checking out this picture I walked around the building to the front entrance and saw an awesome statue in the window. Now I’m sure they didn’t do this intentionally, but take a look at the statue on the right and what is the first thing you think of? My answer after the picture, let’s see if we match.

He Looks Like The…

“Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” from the movie “Ghostbusters”.

Do you have anything to add? Let the world know in the comments.

After a 2 year “vacation” the cartoon series “Taipei Days” that I have created and neglected is finally coming back. This wasn’t an easy thing to do. I didn’t want it to come back as the same old thing, so I had to re-create a lot of things. There were several flaws in the original designs of the characters and to fix that problem I had to redesign everything from the ground up.

All the characters, new and old, have all received many new enhancements, including 3 new animations! Below are pictures of the old characters and their new design, which I feel will make the series that much better.

Old Outdated Characters

Redesigned Characters

The differences might be hard to spot at first, but I assure you there are several improvements.

Not only have the characters received upgrades, but all the old episodes now include a pre-loader to make sure everything is in perfect sync. Now the whole episode loads (including the intro) before it plays. This was not an easy task since before when I didn’t have standards in place all the episodes were created with different frame rates. Episode One was 12 frames a second, Episode Two was 15fps and Episode 3 was 20fps. This I have future fixed, as all new episodes will be 12 frames per second, animation standard.

The pre-loader is not perfect as it will, as of now, automatically play when fully loaded, but that will be fixed with a “Play” button when the new episodes are released.

Talking about new episodes, those too have received an upgrade in the form of wide screen presentation! No more will you have to bare the crap of standard 4X3 viewing. All new episodes and specials from this point on are all presented in glorious 8-bit wide screen! You’re welcome.

The website, Taipeidays.com, has also been upgraded to be more useful and colorful! It now includes more things on one page, including character profiles of every cast member. They are kinda lacking as of right now, but soon with have more information. Every new character introduced in the series will get their own page, with stats, and quotes. Go check it out!

That about covers it. Until I can hire a group of Korean animators to do the animations for me, new episodes will come out when they are finished. Don’t worry, Episode 4 is currently in production as you read this. Go check out the website and let me know what you think, especially about the banners. That’s right, I added an “s” to the end. Go find them.

Typhoon is over. Was kinda pussy-ish. Windows rattled a little last night. By the time I woke up, it was pretty much all over with. Some rain continued throughout the day, but that was that. I have some pics of the damage for you to enjoy.

Tree Branches and Twigs Everywhere

The Wall Fell Down

Where Did The Sign Go?

Found It!