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| “Jia ba bei?” |
“Jia ba bei?”
It means Have You Eaten, and next to the Mandarin “Ni Hao” it’s the most common greeting in Taiwan - a nation of no minor culinary passions.
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| "The Taiwanese word for Man Whore is very funny" |
The audience – mostly Taiwanese, with a handful of journalists from around LA - is suitably impressed. After a bit of chitchat, Schneider talks about what brought him to Taiwan in the first place. Not surprisingly, it was comedy. Schneider’s breakout film Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo told the tale of a hapless fish-tank cleaner forced by economic circumstances into the wacky world of Man Whoredom. The film was immensely popular in Taiwan, netting four times the American per-screen average. Schneider headed to Taiwan to find the secret to this unexpected bit of overseas celebrity. Translation, he says, may have had something to do with it.
“The Taiwanese word for Man Whore (Nán jì ; 男 妓)) is very funny. I watched the movie with a Taiwanese audience, and you’d see the words and the audience would laugh before the joke. It was just fantastic.”
While in Taiwan for the film, Schneider fell in love with the country and its people. His return in the spring of 2011 was more about romance than comedy. Amidst much local fanfare, Schneider hit the streets of Taipei with his new bride, television producer Patricia Azarcoya Arce.
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| Rob, his wife Patricia, and your humble narrator. |
Delving further into Taiwan’s culture, the couple explored the night markets, tea plantations (A serious tea aficionado, Schneider calls Taiwan’s tea “the finest in the world”) and got even deeper into some of the island’s stranger-to-western-palates dishes like chou doufu (stinky tofu) and ya buo (duck neck).
“You couldn’t have a crap meal in Taiwan,” Schneider says. “We like eating exotic foods, and Taiwan has amazing seafood restaurants with fish tanks in the front. The fish look at you and it’s like they’re saying who me? Oh no.”
Just a few months after the honeymoon visit, the actor says that he plans to go back in the next few months to explore more of what the island has to offer.
There’s even talk of a future movie project in Taiwan.
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| Patricia, Rob & Janice Seh-Jen Lai |
“One of the honors of my life is how welcome the people of Taiwan have made me and my wife feel,” says Schneider.
3 rantbacks:
John says Rob has a place to stay when he comes back to Taiwan. Please refer him to Chez Kellenberger. xx
Rob who is half Filipino did that PR hyoe thing as a paid aoppearance fee for the ROC TOruism bureau, he does same thing for HK and Japan travel too. why? he is marketing his brand and bis movies... and no, there will be no future RS movie in Taiwan, that is pure BS. wake up mate.
Kent in Kent-ING
Wait - did you tell him I had an *amazing* film script and he'd be the *perfect* lead if the film gets made? What?! You flogged YOUR script?! Rascal!
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