Taiwan Talk

Matan Shelomi is a professor of entomology (the study of insects) at National Taiwan University, and the first guest to make a return appearance on Taiwan Talk, after our previous journey through the world of insects in late 2020. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Matan to learn about why some people get bitten by mosquitoes more often, which insects taste the best, and why insect species are dis...

Stephen Rong is a renaissance man of performance, as an actor, singer, dancer, model, podcaster, and radio DJ. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Stephen about his role in the acapella group "Awkwapella", and its stark contrast with his murder-mystery podcast, "The Dark Forest". You can find Stephen on Instagram: @therongone And you can find his acapella group here: @awkwapella And if you understa...

Professor Joseph Allen's book "Taipei: City of Displacements" tells the story behind Taiwan's unique architecture -- from the Japanese colonial era to the current time. ICRT's Hope Ngo invites Professor Allen on an imaginary walk along the streets leading to Taipei's Ketagalan Boulevard, to tell audiences about two of the most distinctive buildings in the area. Thanks for listening! -- Hosting pro...

Kassy Cho is an independent journalist and founder of Almost.co, a media outlet focused on getting news stories to the internet's younger generations. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Kassy about internet journalism, and thinking visually to present stories to new audiences. You can find Kassy's news pages on Instagram: English: @almost.co Chinese: @almost.ch Or her personal page here: @kassy Yo...

Director and filmmaker Eric Rettstadt joins us on Taiwan Talk this week to discuss his new short movie "Tank Fairy" which stars Taiwan drag queen Marian Mesula. The film has enjoyed screenings at a number of prestigious film festival across the US. It tells the story of a fabulous gas delivery agent that meets a schoolboy in Taipei City and turns his world upside down. -- Hosting provided by Sound...

Isabella Tan is a young filmmaker raised in Taiwan and Malaysia, also having spent some time making films in the U.S. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Isabella about her experiences in the film industry, and Asian representation in front of and behind the cameras. You can find Isabella's Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/its.bellatan/ And her Vimeo page here: https://vimeo.com/isabellata...

Quincy Davis is a professional basketball player for the New Taipei Kings, and has been a crucial player on Taiwan's national basketball team. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Quincy about his experience becoming a Taiwanese citizen, playing basketball for Taiwan around the world, and inspiring the younger generations of Taiwan to try their hands and feet at sports. You can see some of Quincy's...

Academia Sinica's Shashank Keshavmurthy is a coral reef specialist who has lived in Taiwan for more than a decade. ICRT's Hope Ngo speaks to Keshavmurthy about the lethal combination of climate change and relentless human interest that's threatening the coral reefs around Xiaoliuqiu. Thanks for listening. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Tobie Openshaw is a filmmaker, photographer, and advocate for Taiwan's next generation of visual storytellers. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Tobie about his work with Taiwan's indigenous stories, his experience documenting the Sunflower Movement in 2014, and the hurdles that young filmmakers have to overcome in getting their work into the world. Join Tobie's group "Filmmaker Nights Taipei" fo...

Emily Wu is the CEO and co-founder of Ghost Island Media, one of Taiwan's most popular podcast networks. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Emily about Ghost Island Media's first shows, her work in Taiwan's media industry, and the future of podcasts in Taiwan. You can find a list of Ghost Island Media's shows on their website: https://ghostisland.media/ On on their instagram: @ghostislandme Here's...

Priya Lalwani-Purswaney, also known as 李眉君, is a professional interpreter of Chinese, English, and Hindi, and an organizer of Indian cultural events in Taiwan. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Priya about her experience growing up in Taiwan, her work as a simultaneous interpreter, and her role as a cultural bridge between India and Taiwan. You can find Priya's Translation and Interpreting Se...

Liam Fanning is organizing the upcoming "Taipei Shorts IV", the fourth installment of a series of short plays, going on stage in early January 2022! ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Liam about writing, directing, and acting, as well as how Taipei Shorts is keeping English- and multi-language theater alive in Taiwan. Find tickets to Taipei Shorts here: bit.ly/taipeishorts Find out more about Tai...

Jim Geddes is the founder and bandleader of the Taipei Professional Orchestra Big Band, as well as a freelance musician and woodwind instrumentalist extraordinaire. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Jim about the TPO Big Band, gathering musicians in a pandemic, and his background on Broadway. You can find the TPO Big Band's new album here: https://tpotaipei.bandcamp.com/album/tpo-live-at-yuchen-...

Satoki Matsushita is an astrophysicist who has worked with international projects like the Event Horizon Telescope and the Greenland Telescope Project, which have contributed to humanity's first imaging of a black hole, millions of lightyears from Earth. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Satoki about his research on black holes, his work with telescopes around the world, and his personal journey...

Bonnie Lin and Angela Hsiung are professional street dancers, and are directing an immersive dance performance called "Lili", which is set to open for the weekend of December 11th and 12th. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks to Bonnie and Angela about their show Lili, immersive dance, training during the pandemic, and their experiences with street dance. Follow them on instagram: Lili: @lili20210717 B...

Mark Hsu, found of outsourcing service provider and consulting agency 11th Fleet joins the podcast this week to talk about his organisation and the new, decentralised business environment that organisations around the world are slowly starting to adopt. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Brian Hioe is a founding member of New Bloom Magazine, and a regular correspondent for news agencies including Taiwan Plus and ICRT. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks to Brian about his recent contribution to an extensive feature story on Taiwan by HBO's "Last Week Tonight", hosted by John Oliver, which is some of the most mainstream coverage of Taiwan by the U.S. in recent years. You can find more f...

French filmmaker Aurelien Jegou joins us on this week's episode of Taiwan Talk to discuss his love of Taiwanese cinema, and two of the short movies he has produced since moving to Taiwan over five years ago. You can find more information about Aurelien's work at www.aurelien-binggan.com. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Eddy Gonzalez is the owner of the restaurant "Eddy's Cantina" in Taipei, where he hosts the weekly live show "Eddy LIVE". ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Eddy about running a restaurant through the pandemic, what he's learned from hosting a live show, and how to turn a Wednesday into a Friday. You can see his show on YouTube every Wednesday at 7 PM: https://www.eddy.live/ And you can follow him...

LGBTQ advocate and business-owner Olivia Wu joins us on Taiwan Talk this week to talk about her organization The Light Program. The organization offers holistic healing services and is involved in community-building activities in Taiwan. Olivia has also helped organize Asia Rainbow Ride - a biking event to raise money for LGBTQ charities. -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

Ray Ko is a freediving instructor on the island of Xiaoliuqiu, off the coast of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Ray about the different kinds of diving, ocean stories, sea life, and pushing the limits of one's own diving potential. You can find more info on diving lessons with Ray here: https://www.freedivenomadtaiwan.com/ Follow Ray on instagram: @freedivenomad And check ou...

This final episode in the Renewable Energy and Taiwan series features representative of Siemens Taiwan Anthony Tam, who talks about the company’s Smart City concept for sustainable energy usage. Anthony discusses the three key Smart City initiatives of “grid edge”, smart buildings, and smart electrification, and explains where these have been implemented in Taiwan and around the world. -- Hosting...

Sarah Chang is an action film star turned podcaster, and host of "The Kungfu Momma Show". ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi chats with Sarah about her show, parenting experts, bringing the tenets of martial arts into everyday life, normalizing Asian representation in film, and her experiences on all sides of the cameras and microphones. You can hear more on the Kungfu Momma Show podcast: Spotify: https://op...

Seqalu is a TV series focusing on a critical piece of Taiwan's history, at the crossroads of indigenous culture and foreign influence. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Seqalu's director Jui-Yuan Tsao (曹瑞原), as well as starring actors Andrew Chau (周厚安) and Chien-Wei Huang (黃健瑋). This episode is the full bilingual interview, with all responses presented in their original languages. Seqal...

Seqalu is a TV series focusing on a critical piece of Taiwan's history, at the crossroads of indigenous culture and foreign influence. ICRT's Trevor Tortomasi speaks with Seqalu's director Jui-Yuan Tsao (曹瑞原), as well as starring actors Andrew Chau (周厚安) and Chien-Wei Huang (黃健瑋). This episode is a shortened version of the full bilingual interview, but includes English translations of key...