iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I was at the protest and posted a quick note. Taiwanese people were so angry at the police/city government that my post now has 15K likes. I also added about 500 followers, and they are going to be sorely disappointed when they discover that my account is mostly me geeking out over Taiwanese opera

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

For a brief time only: the five performances from Tainan’s 鍘美 opera festival are available on YT. Of special note is the inaugural performance of the 孫凱琳歌劇團. Sun Kailin is the daughter of legend Guo Chunmei 郭春美 and is now a big star in her own right. Kaohsiung opera is unstoppable!

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Cornelius Dieckmann @codieckmann.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Eine Taiwanerin wirft ihrem Ex-Mann vor, sie betrogen zu haben. Zigtausende Menschen solidarisieren sich mit ihr – mit einem Opernfestival auf einem Parkplatz am Meer. Reportage aus Tainan über ein Graswurzel-Event, wie es wohl nur in Taiwan möglich ist. @spiegel.de www.spiegel.de/ausland/taiw...

spiegel.de

(S+) Taiwan: Fremdgegangen? Kopf ab!

Eine bekannte Taiwanerin wirft ihrem Ex-Mann vor, sie betrogen zu haben. Zigtausende Menschen solidarisieren sich mit ihr.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I’m not sure in what universe a performance of Brahms’ 1st Piano Concerto would clock in at 28 minutes. Is the San Francisco Symphony using ChatGPT to compile their program notes? (I do, however, love living in the same universe as Garrick Ohlsson.)

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Perhaps they’ll call it “The Festival of Fogeys”. The San Francisco Symphony is not currently lacking in performances of “iconic works from the core classical repertoire”.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I’m headed back to Taiwan next week and am already enjoying myself perusing the schedule for temple-fair opera in the greater Taipei area during the eighth lunar month. There are multiple options each day. Taiwan really is opera heaven. #kuaáhì #歌仔戲 #TaiwaneseOpera

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Scenes from a strike. I’m very disappointed with the administration and with the board of the San Francisco Opera. The musicians deserve better. The institution deserves better. @sfopera.bsky.social

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

《牛來》？ Girl, more like 《牛，拜！》

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Fox (hu 狐) spirits absolutely love to take the surname Hu 胡. They think they're so clever. Don't fall for their traps!

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

I dunno - I’ve got kind of a bad feeling about this smoked salmon

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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 05/06/2026

Friday night, time to go wild.

Screenshot of the Hucker dictionary entry for “Confectioner,” tángjiàng, where the first character is a pain in the ass to type. (I’m guessing it’s the same word as 糖?)

Screenshot of the Hucker entry for “Dough Pantry Supervisor,” my favorite Sui-Tang office, showing that it has incorrectly (or at least borderline - it’s wrong in my book) simplified the first character, and the second one is using a variant form that doesn’t get correctly found by a search for the more common 麵 or 面.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Mahler 9 with the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt was harrowing. The 98-year-old conductor, seated on a piano bench, started listing starboard. He lacked the strength to right himself. A team of 4 came onstage mid-Burleske and seated the maestro in a proper chair. V. distressing.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Ah, Hapsburg Geography. Prostiboř lies due north of Salzburg and is therefore very much to the west of Vienna. Elsbeth Dangel-Pelloquin, Alexander Honold, Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Grenzenlose Verwandlung. Biographie. S. Fischer Verlag. Frankfurt/M. 2024.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Well put. This is also excellent advice for music critics.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

RIP the great Asha Bhosle, who, in addition to her iconic voice and her thousands of recorded songs, also once came over to my house for brunch. (I think she was appalled by my cooking. She wasn’t wrong.) Here she is in “Piya Tu Ab To Aaja”, danced by the divine Helen. youtu.be/XSRzD2N4cvU?...

youtu.be

Monica, O My Darling Piya Tu Ab To Aaja 4K ❤ | Caravan | Asha Bhosle, R.D. Burman |Helen| Hindi Song

YouTube video by Hindi 4K Songs

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I’ve had a similar experience， except they put on a CD of Bond tunes. As the knife was about to cut into my flesh, on came “Live and Let Die.” (Also, you really don’t want to hear the chitchat of people operating on you.)

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

So what happened was that on Monday a stranger on a scooter spotted me on a Tainan street corner watching a show by the excellent Shiu Kim Taiwanese Opera Troupe 秀琴歌劇團 and snapped a photo of me in my natural environment. #TaiwaneseOpera #kuaáhì #歌仔戲

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Mrs. Detective PikaBOO, Esq. @clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social · 18/03/2026

Every single thing named after Cesar Chavez should be renamed for Dolores Huerta

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

I love Taiwanese opera’s moments of lunacy. Last night the 新義和 troupe performed “From the Case Files of Bao Gong: The Five Mice Menace the Capital 包公案-五鼠鬧東京”. The fifth mouse was … MICKEY! #TaiwaneseOpera #歌仔戲 #kuaáhì

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

AIDA transform’d into Beijing Opera. Get your tickets now! Info below. This troupe usually has English subtitles.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Last night: 板橋埔墘福德宮 to see the 民權歌劇團. They are not the liveliest or the most imaginative Taiwanese opera troupe, but they are extremely solid and its members sing consistently well. Troupe leader 林金泉, a skilled electric keyboard warrior, is one of the troupe’s secret weapons. #歌仔戲 #kuaáhì

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Arrived last night in Taipei. Headed out to 北投山腳廣福宮 to see the 葉麗珠三姊妹歌劇團 on their last night here. These old-timers got their start in the 1960s, so I always make a special effort to come see them. Also: Taiwanese opera’s newest darling 吳承恩 will guest star. #歌仔戲 #kuaáhì #TaiwaneseOpera

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Dear Norman We thought you were a serious person. We may have to revise that opinion all good wishes BBC

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

A romance cartoon for the @theguardian.com

A large Regency house. Two sisters named Emilia and Charlotte talk on an upper floor.
"Mister Blackwell has come to call again." says Emilia as she looks out of the window "Oh, how I despise his uncouth manners and electric bicycle!"

Charlotte says "Sister, you will end up a spinster if you insist on a historically accurate suitor."
and continues "The romance novel has changed, Emilia, and so must we."

Emilia replies "Easy for you to say. You are engaged to the richest werewolf in the county!"

They are walking through the house.

Charlotte says "Look at Cousin Lucy: She is quite plain, yet made a most advantageous match with the dragon queen of nalthrax."

"True." says Emilia opening the door.

The tall, solid figure of Miuster Blackwell stands at the door wearing a top hat and tailcoat:
"Ladies, I triumphed In my ice hockey match and won ten thousand a year in sponsorship! Miss Emilia, will you be my bride?" he is holding a hockey stick.

Emilia swoons into Charlotte's arms.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

This might be of interest to a few: Verdi and Piave’s “Rigoletto”, transformed by Taiwan’s Li Baochun 李寶春 into a Beijing opera. In Mandarin Chinese, with Chinese and English subtitles. Available for six more days. #京劇 #京剧 #BeijingOpera youtu.be/UGCYbEG_ICY?...

youtu.be

酷雲劇場《弄臣》The Jester李寶春、孔玥慈、李隆顯、陳雨萱主演 (2021城市舞台)

YouTube video by 酷雲劇場 Koo Cloud Theater

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

「腸化為筋」 This may become my new euphemism for “power bottom”.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

This really does sum up Twitter these days: “I didn’t read the article but whoever wrote it needs to read my book.”

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Balancing a Crutch on the Head aka the Drunken Immortal Field Sobriety Test #新義和歌劇團 #歌仔戲 #kuaáhì #TaiwaneseOpera

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

I’d sooner kick over a kid’s sand-castle than disturb the lovely foam on my latte. What am I to do?

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

The indomitable 孫凱琳 delivers a knockout for the 春美歌劇團. From the stage at Kaohsiung’s tiny 九天堂 #kuaáhì #歌仔戲 #TaiwaneseOpera

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 22/10/2025

While this federal administration has been busy empowering ICE to become, essentially, an extrajudicial militia allowed to disappear people from our streets, the Bay has been organizing. We will not be beaten down.

coyotemedia.org

What We Can Do About ICE

ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

It’s never too early to start drilling your tot on the basics of aerial stage combat. From Tainan’s lively 水錦歌劇團, up north for a short stint at Bali’s 安福宮. #TaiwaneseOpera #歌仔戲 #kuaáhì

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

I gave up on German crosswords the day I came across the clue “Menschenrasse” for a five-letter word beginning with “N”.

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Catherine Clarke @cathamclarke.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Your best ever night at the #theatre? Join us @ihr.bsky.social on Thurs 13 Nov to recreate it - or stage the show of your dreams - & discover the use of #toy theatre in #heritage #research! From my fab PhD student @pdwebster.bsky.social. @beinghumanfest.bsky.social www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

history.ac.uk

A Night at the TOY Theatre!

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I return to Taipei next week for 2+ months and am simply overwhelmed by the number and quality of outdoor temple-fair opera offerings for the first part of October. And on the weekends there are shows in the indoor theaters. It’s bonkers! #kuaáhì #歌仔戲 #TaiwaneseOpera

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

I’m so looking forward to episodes of MorseGPT, where the curmudgeonly detective hallucinates a crime, all the suspects, & an unexpected solution. “You see, Lewis, this arsobromine we found at Oxford’s King’s College could have been made at home from Marmite and cigarette stubs. It was the dog.”

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

The joke’s on them. I registered my account under the name Anna Karenina.

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Kevin @kmichaelwilson.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

只可說以指喻指之非指，以馬喻馬之非馬。 "Well, you know," with an almost Saussurean air, "a finger signifying a finger is not actually a finger. Just as, of course, a horse signifying a horse isn't actually a horse!"

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Hanns Eisler was a singular composer: scrupulous yet vibrant. He achieved far less than what he was capable of, due to the circumstances alluded to by Professor Wolff. youtu.be/LvB_XNCaJKo?...

youtu.be

"Deutsche Sinfonie" Hanns Eisler

YouTube video by hitzikon

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

It’s always a special day when someone from the Sinosphere’s theatre world discovers Zeffirelli’s “Turandot” production for the first time and are gobsmacked by the production’s sheer idiocy. #MetropolitanOpera #Turandot #FlamingGarbage

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

And Etsy pulls through in the nick of time.

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Ninedragonspot @ninedragonspot.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Meanwhile, i would like to see this cold case reopened.

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