FASCINOMA: This Musical Taiwanese Cat Can Sing The Beatles

Written by

TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai catches up with Taiwanese American singer-songwriter Alanna Lin aka Fascinoma as she works on her latest project recording covers of Beatles songs. She has had a strong following since her days performing shows around Los Angeles and since one of her songs became "quasi-famous amongst fans of American Dad on FOX". The ballad, "I'm Walking This Road Because You Stole My Car (Don't Go)," was used for a love scene between a boy and a cat. Seriously, the song is…

Read More »

Healthy Living and Eating: Advice from Taiwanese American Health Professionals

Written by

A few recent publications by 2nd generation Taiwanese American health professionals caught our attention this year so we've compiled a brief interview with each of the authors asking about their background and motivation behind their work. If you're looking for some solid advice on diets, exercise, and proactive healthy lifestyles, check out these titles below! They are available for purchase online through Amazon.com. The Ping Pong Diet by Chris Ko, MD Who are you? I'm a board certified…

Read More »

Charlie Chang Releases New Album to Combat Domestic Violence

Written by

TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai recently caught up with singer-songwriter Charlie Chang. In 2010, he was featured as one of our 100 Passionate People in the community. This month, he launches a new album with beautifully-inspired tracks and will be donating a portion of the sales from this CD to V-day, an organization dedicated to ending violence against women around the world. We talk about the inspiration behind this project. H: Hi Charlie! It's really nice to catch up with you again!…

Read More »

Inside the Taipei Office of PicCollage

Written by

Create. Connect. Collage. That's the simple premise behind PicCollage, one of the most downloaded photo collage apps on iOS and Android smartphones today. The app allows free-form collage editing with or without the use of templates, and it has attracted a huge user-base globally--primarily young female tweens. Gone are the days of printing, cutting, and pasting on posterboard. Its simplicity and intuitive gesture-based photo manipulation is also its greatest strength. Add colorful backgrounds,…

Read More »

An Interview with Ed Lin, Author of Ghost Month

Written by

Ed Lin is the author of Ghost Month, a new mystery novel set in Taipei. He is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. TaiwaneseAmerican.org's editorial director Anna Wu sat down with Ed while he was on a book tour in Berkeley, California, and they talked about his book, the politics of Taiwan, and how he became a novelist. * * * Anna Wu: Hi Ed. Could you tell us a bit about your novel, Ghost Month? Ed Lin: My latest novel Ghost Month was published by Soho Crime, actually…

Read More »

Dmae Roberts on Preserving and Reviving 25 Years of Mei Mei’s Journey

Written by

In 1989, Dmae Roberts, a mixed-race Taiwanese American independent public radio producer, writer and playwright, produced Mei Mei, A Daughter’s Song, the only radio documentary featuring a Taiwanese heritage story to receive the prestigious Peabody Award. It chronicled her relationship with her mother and her mother’s childhood in Taiwan. In 1991 she wrote a multimedia stage play called Mei Mei for the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in Portland that was an adaptation of this 1989 radio…

Read More »

An Interview with MeiMeiWaWa

Written by

Earlier this year we were able to meet up with Lara and Esther Veronin, two sisters who are starting their own multimedia company in Taiwan. You may have heard of Lara in the past as she's been all over the entertainment industry! She is best known as lead female singer of the band Nan Quan Mama having performed multiple duets with Jay Chou and releasing her own solo albums as well as acting in dramas. We talked about a lot of different subjects from growing up in between Taiwan and the US to…

Read More »

Author Julie Wu Discusses her Novel, The Third Son

Written by

TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai briefly interviews author Julie Wu about her latest novel, The Third Son, which is set during martial-law era Taiwan. In 2013, it was an Oprah.com featured favorite, and this year, the paperback version is now available. Julie shares her inspiration behind The Third Son and how culture, heritage, and history influences her work. Segments of this video feature Julie Wu speaking on a panel moderated by TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Kristina Lin at the North America…

Read More »

Catching Up with Singer-Songwriter Dawen

Written by

TaiwaneseAmerican.org has been a proud supporter of talented singer-songwriter Dawen since his journey began in Chicago and then took him to Los Angeles. He began gaining immense popularity after winning Kollaboration Acoustic 4 in 2010 and after releasing his Mandarin covers of several pop songs (including Rebecca Black's "Friday"). Shortly after, he was signed to Universal Records Taiwan. TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Eric Kao recently caught up with Dawen to see how he has been doing since relocating…

Read More »

An Interview with Jennifer J. Chow, Author of The 228 Legacy

Written by

Jennifer J. Chow's fiction writing has appeared in several literary magazines, but now she debuts her full-length novel, The 228 Legacy, which was inspired by stories about the 228 Incident recounted to her by her Taiwanese American husband and relatives. Three generations in an all-female Taiwanese family living near Los Angeles in 1980 are each guarding personal secrets. Grandmother Silk finds out that she has breast cancer, as daughter Lisa loses her job, while pre-teen granddaughter Abbey…

Read More »