Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" was shot partially on location in Taiwan, the director's homeland. Water scenes were shot in both the southern part of the island, with its curving beaches, crystal clear water and sunsets, and in a specially built "water tank" in the bustling central Taiwan city of Taichung.

And that's where the local politicians got into some hot water of their own by complaining about lousy product placement in the final film helmed by their hometown boy.

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Dear Ricky Gervais:

Can you maybe start to leave Anne Frank out of your comedy routines? When did the Holocaust diarist become a subject for mirth?

Yes, that Anne Frank -- the teenage girl who became a symbol of the Holocaust. The claustrophobic years in hiding. The terrible mystery of betrayal, the horrific last weeks, dying of typhoid in a concentration camp. The poignant way in which her diary was found, its restoration to her father, all that was left of a sensitive, intelligent talented child, all that remained of his entire family.

Good subject for a joke, eh, Ricky?

As you might know, and if you don't, let me remind you: In 2009, the BBC received complaints about a quip by the comedian David Mitchell. “What was the last entry in Anne Frank’s diary?” he asked on a...

When popular author Giddens Ko decided to turn his autobiographical love story "You Are the Apple of My Eye" into a  movie, he decided to direct it himself, and the sweet coming-of-age comedy has done terrific box office all over Asia, beginning with a great run here in Ko's native Taiwan.

His novel was titled "Na xie nian, wo men yi qi zhui de nu hai," which translates in English best as "When We Were Teenagers, We All Chased After the Same Girl at School."

The problem is, the girl got away. In other words, boys meet girl, girl chooses one as her favorite...

I have seen the future and it's dank, dark and dystopian. At least in one Oklahoma author's eyes, it is.

When veteran sci-fi writer Jim Laughter sat down last summer to start in on a new novel about mankind's shaky future on this third rock from the sun, he wasn't sure where the
book was actually going, he said.

Seven months later, after typing each chapter of "Polar City Red" on his computer keyboard, Laughter, 59, was finished and ready to face critics on the right and on the left. Climate denialists are going to say it's not science, and die-hard climate activists are going to say it's just fiction.

Rick Perry's not going to read it, that's for sure. Neither will Rick Santorum or other national politicians with their heads in the sand. But Laughter's...