fiLi’s world => Is the Chinese government against Lonely Planet on the Taiwan issue?

Politics, politics, politics. There’s fodder there for a hundred thousand blogs, but that’s just not my scene.

Anyway, once in a while you just have to stand up and be counted.

Some (not all, by any means) mainland Chinese and most certainly the government of mainland China have got their heads up their butts so far if you shined a light down their throats they could see their own stomach lining.

Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China – never has been. From what I can tell, even when it was controlled by the government of China (that is, the governments prior to the PRC, and not including the times its been under the sovereignty of other countries entirely) it’s been a unwanted outpost occupied by headhunters, fortune seekers, pirates and scoundrels escaping the mainland.

I could write volumes on some of the antics of some of their brainwashed minions, even in an inconsequential place like Phoenix, as they’ve tried to erase the name Taiwan from everything from posters, cultural events and newspapers. They’re so fanatical, it’s like talking to a fundamentalist. The refrigerator door is open, the cold has already gotten out and the light is burnt out.

Anyway, what gets me on today’s rant:

Apparently, Chinese authorities are now confiscating Lonely Planet guidebooks at the border because they have a map which shows Taiwan in a different color than China – “implying” that Taiwan and China aren’t the same country. Just try getting into Taiwan with a Chinese visa and the reality will hit you like a brick.

From fiLi’s world:

Is the Chinese government against Lonely Planet on the Taiwan issue?
Oooo… there’s a weird story for you. Apparently, some Israeli tourists going to travel in China with the latest Lonely Planet book were asked to hand in their very expensive book at the border-crossing due to its ‘political nature’ showing maps of China which color Taiwan in a different color suggesting that Taiwan is not a part of China.

The article sites several examples and is worth a read.

They really are like a bunch of kids on a temper tantrum.

Incidentally, I found that article by way of The View From Taiwan Blog which I read regularly.

ABC News Online => Steve Irwin dead. 04/09/2006

Crikey!

The naturalist and television star Steve Irwin has died in a diving accident in far north Queensland. He was 44.

Police say he was stung through the heart by a stingray while diving off Port Douglas.

That’s just depressing.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Natural Sciences

Doctor Who – Revelation of the Daleks
by Eric Saward

Story # 143, 1985
Colin Baker as The Doctor
Nicola Bryant as Peri

Eric Saward turns in his second mess of a Dalek story.

Plot
The Doctor and Peri arrive on the planet Necros to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the Doctor’s friend.

Meanwhile body snatchers are searching for (coincidentally, it appears) the body of the Doctor’s friend.

Davros is creating a new army of Daleks, loyal to him using the bodies in Necros. He’s also feeding the galaxy with the leftovers.

His business partners have hired and assassin to kill him.

For “comedy” there’s are plots with a lovelorn intern and the chief embalmer and another about a DJ who entertains the corpses.

Hell, there was no plot in this one. I’m not even going to bother.

Analysis
Having just watched Resurrection of the Daleks, Eric Saward’s previous Dalek attempt, last night my complaints from that story continue into this one. Too many subplots are floating around and the Doctor does mostly nothing. In fact, he’s hardly seen in the entire first episode. That’s worse than you might think because this is from the one hour episode era and this is only a two parter. The Doctor doesn’t even make it inside the building before the first episode ends.

I watched this episode with the subtitles turned on because Davros often becomes incoherent and I thought I might finally discover what he says. What became apparent was that the subtitlers couldn’t understand him either.

I really don’t mind a complex story, but this was about as neatly tied up as a two-year old’s shoelaces. Eric Saward really just didn’t know how to write a Doctor Who story. The Visitation, a minor effort in the Who cannon, was his best work. As with Resurrection, all of the subplots ended in dead ends – the characters involved are all killed off, completely unsuccessful in their goals.

The character of the comedy-relief DJ is played by Alexi Sayle, and one can only suppose the part was written in as part of the guest star of the week mentality that had taken hold during that era. For most of the episode he’s just an annoying commentator on the action, although he does get to (briefly) interact with Peri before his ultimate demise.

It’s hard to say Colin’s Doctor is on his top of form here, since he’s given so little to do. He’s given one of his obligatory indignant remarks, typically in a form like this:

Peri: Who was this guy, anyway?
Doctor: “Guy”?… “GUY?!?!!!!”

He’s given one of his melancholy turns when he sees his own tombstone and gets all contemplative.

Although he is given one of those moments that makes him stand head over heals over the other John Nathan-Turner cast Doctors: Davros has been wounded, his one remaining hand blown off, and he is now a prisoner of the Dalek forces being lead out of the room. The Doctor offers to shake his hand, knowing full well Davros hasn’t got one. That’s it. Just that, but it shows Colin’s Doctor has more potential personality than Davison or McCoy combined.

It’s really sad to say that’s the highlight of this story. It may have been the highlight of the season.

My next review should either be Pertwee’s Inferno (yeah!) or McCoy’s Curse of Fenric (uggh. Well, at least it wasn’t written by Saward).

Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Review, Video

It’s midnight and the rain has just about ended, but it has been raining continuously for over 6 hours. It’s amazing. I don’t think it’s rained for this long in one sitting since the 1990′s.

Too bad this isn’t enough to undo 8 years of draught.

(You know, it turns out it’s not so easy to get rain to show up in photographs. That explains how the film industry has been so successful in the UK, apparently.)

Technorati Tags: Blog, Flickr