Taiwan Journal, Parts I and II

choi

The following is a travelogue by Jay Nordlinger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Nordlinger
, whose latest book is
Peace, They Say: A history of the Nobel Peace Prize, the most famous and controversial prize in the world. Encounter Books, March 27, 2012).

(1) Part I. June 11, 2012.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ar ... rt-i-jay-nordlinger

Note:
(a) impromptu (n): "something that is impromptu"
www.m-w.com
(b) For Denali, see Mount McKinley
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_McKinley
(c) The journal said, "A local tells me, 'They [convenient stores] make living so easy.' (Reminds me of a Gershwin song.)"
(i) Summertime (song)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summertime_(song)
(composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess)
(ii) its lyrics:
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/g/ ... mmertime299720.html
(first two lines: "Summertime,  And the livin' is easy")
(d) The journal stated, "It is natural to think that Taiwan was once a Portuguese colony. * * * But, from what I understand, the Portuguese were never here. It’s just that, sailing by one day in the 16th century" in 1544.

Taiwan was NEVER a colony of Portugal, which sailed by. See map 2 in History of Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taiwan
(Dutch and Spanish possessions, as well as Kingdom of Middag)


(2) Part II. June 12, 2012.
http://www.nationalreview.com/ar ... t-ii-jay-nordlinger

Note:
(a) David Pryce-Jones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pryce-Jones(1936- ; a conservative British author and commentator)
(b) “I turn into a particular room, and have a bit of a start.”

start (n): “a sudden involuntary bodily movement or reaction <woke with a start>”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/d ... =1&t=1342107838
(c) Liberty Square  自由廣場 is in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
(d) The journal stated, “Out on Liberty Square, a band is rehearsing — an American-style marching band, as at halftime. They are doing . . . ‘Tonight,’ from West Side Story. ‘Oh, Bernstein!’  I think. ‘That’s fame.’”

West Side Story
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story
(an American musical; first production: 1957 Broadway; music by Leonard Beernstein; Bernstein's score for the musical includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke", and "Cool")

* lyrics of Tonight:
http://www.risa.co.uk/sla/song.php?songid=15033

(e) The journal went on, “Many years ago, Paul Johnson was in Perth, and heard a car salesman recite a poem by Arthur Hugh Clough (‘Say not the struggle naught availeth’). Johnson thought, ‘That’s fame.’”
* there have been many Paul Johnsons. I am clueless about whom the journal referred to.
* Arthur Hugh Clough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hugh_Clough
(1819-1861; an English poet; Clough is perhaps best known now for his short poems Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth, a rousing call to tired soldiers to keep up the good fight [and a few other poems])
* the poem:
http://www.bartleby.com/101/741.html

(f) Gujarat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarat
(g) Francis Lai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Lai
(born in 1932, at Nice, France; In 1970 Francis Lai won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film Love Story)

Click the “official site” in the last section External link, and you will see he is French, despite a Chinese-sounding surname.See Lai (surname)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_(surname)
(an Italian (from Sardinia) surname)
(h) The journal remarked, “Many lovely people in Taipei bow to me, and I bow back — in kind of a sloppy, awkward, half-assed way.”

half-assed (adj; First Known Use circa 1932):
“1 often vulgar: lacking significance, adequacy, or completeness
2 often vulgar: lacking intelligence, character, or effectiveness”
(i) go figure:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/go-figure
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/go-figure
(j) For Creative Park, see
What’s the Story. Huashan 1914 Creative Park  台北華山1914 創意文化園區, undated.
http://web.huashan1914.com/en/story.html
(k) It is possible the Stenian in “Steynian thoughts” alludes to Mark Steyn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Steyn
, who complains: The Future Belongs to Islam.
(l) soupçon (n; French, literally, suspicion):
“a little bit : TRACE <a soupçon of suspicion>“
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soupçon
(m) Regrading “riot of humanity.”
* riot (n): “a random or disorderly profusion <the woods were a riot of color>”
* humanity (n): “the human race : the totality of human beings”