Here's a story on Japanese actor Kazunari Ninomiya, who stars in Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima: The story is written on this actor's face. He plays Saigo, "an apolitical baker conscripted into the doomed defense of the island." From what I hear, his story is particularly heartbreaking. Virtually unknown to general American audiences, he's actually a huge all-out mega-star in Japan. He looks like a kid. Go, kid, go.
Oh, this is funny. And really really sad. The campaign of an Orange County supervisorial candidate Trung Nguyen has been caught doctoring a photo so that it looks like he's standing next to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Governator. That's classy: O.C. candidate has serious image problem. The doctored photo appeared over the weekend in two Vietnamese-language daily newspapers, and was discovered by a campaign worker for Trung's opponent, Garden Grove Councilwoman Janet Nguyen (no relation). Of course, Nguyen's campaign, whose slogan is "Honesty, Integrity and Leadership," has blamed the alteration on an advertising company and/or a volunteer. Caught, sucka! Caught doing a really poor Photoshop job.
The latest edition of SFGate's "Pinoy Pod" is trying to get the word out about Harrison Leonardo, a 2-year-old boy from San Leandro, CA who is battling Acute Myloid Leukemia: No easy match for biracial Fil-Am toddler in dire need of bone marrow donor. Like the headline says, the kid is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant, but the search for a donor hasn't been easy because of his mixed heritage. Harrison is half Filipino and half white and his donor will most likely share the same heritage. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, of the 6 million people now registered as donors, only 34,000 are Pinoy, and even fewer are biracial. The podcast has an interview with Harrison's parents, who are trying to raise awareness about the lack of biracial donors on the national bone marrow registry. Listen to it here, and go here for more information: Help Harrison
Here's an interesting story in the Washington Post on surgeon-turned-writer Pauline Chen: Cutting to the Core. Her new book, Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality is "a series of thoughtful, moving essays on the troubled relationship between modern medical practice and the emotional events surrounding death," and it's receiving favorable acclaim. Here's an NPR interview with Chen: Surgeon Writes of Death, Dying in 'Final Exam'. Amazon.com is also hosting a blog by the author. Sounds like a really interesting book. It's like a serious Grey's Anatomy, without all the sleeping around and stuff.
Have you been watching the latest season of American Idol? Every year, I swear to myself that I'm not going to watch the damn show, and every year I somehow get sucked in. It's like a black hole of television. For poor suckers. Like me. Anyway, careful watchers might've caught an offhand remark that asshead Simon Cowell made last week during the New York auditions. This blogger took notice:
The judges were snippy, but almost managed to keep from going over the top. Simon seemed to take a page from the Rosie O'Donnell book of political incorrectness when, after failing to understand that an Asian woman's name was "Fong," called her "ping-pong, or whatever your name is."
Why not just go all the way and call her "ching chong"? I know Cowell's supposed to be the jerk on the show, but how purposefully ignorant can you get? Like "Fong" is that hard to pronounce. I don't care how bad the wannabe singer was. That's just being an ass for the hell of it. (Thanks, Ling)
Meet Chinese American table tennis prodigy and Olympic hopeful Han Xiao, sixth-ranked player in the United States: The Golden Child. There are no big table tennis superstars in the America (the best American player doesn't even make the top 100 in the world rankings), but Xiao is apparently a serious contender to win a place on the U.S. Olympic team.
For all my people in the Bay Area, it's time to get your tickets for the sketch comedy extravaganza TeleMongol. Asian American Theater Company and Contemporary Asian Theater Scene present the celebrated collaborative sketch comedy show that combines the forces of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble and three of the nation's most renowned Asian American comedy troupes, Cold Tofu, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, and OPM. The show runs February 9-18 at Theatre on San Pedro Square in San Jose. Can you dig it? And remember, for you, readers of the website, discounted tickets! When you purchase you tickets at Brown Paper Tickets, enter the password "tmangryasian" and get yourself a few bucks off the ticket price. We could all use a few extra bucks, right? So buy your tickets, go see the show, have a few laughs. More info on the show, go here.
This week, MTV Chi world premiered the video for Jin's debut Chinese single, "ABC," performed almost entirely in Cantonese: MTV Chi music video premiere of ABC by Jin. Fortunately with subtitles, for those of us with limited Cantonese skillz. Lots of photos of a little Jin, and shots of Los Angeles' Chinatown. The new album drops in February.
Former UCLA decathlon star and Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, C.K. Yang (Yang Chuan-kwang), passed away in Los Angeles on Saturday after complications from a massive stroke. He was 74 years old: Former Bruin and Sportsman of the Year, C.K. Yang, Passes Away. They called him the "Asian Iron Man."
Last week, state lawmakers in Wisconsin proposed requiring schools to teach about the history Hmong people, saying suspicion and racial tensions could be eased by an understanding of the Hmong's past as U.S. allies in the Vietnam War: Hmong teachings in schools pitched. This could be one step towards addressing recent racial tensions rekindled by the homicide a Hmong hunter this month. Education and knowledge used to defeat ignorance and fear? It is indeed possible, and worth the effort...
The furor over Jian Li's civil rights complaint over Princeton's admissions policies continues to make headlines and rage on: Asian bias fight grows. There's an online petition here, calling Princeton to release average test scores and admission rates on its applicants by ethnic group: End Discrimination in Admissions Policies. Is it me, or does it seem like this movement is having some trouble garnering support? I can sort of see why. The poor guy got rejected from Princeton... so he went to Yale instead. Still, I agree that there does need to be a more transparent admissions process.
Earlier this month, Army Pfc. Ming Sun of Cathedral City, CA was killed on patrol in Iraq, less than 10 months after he enlisted: Army Pfc. Ming Sun, 20, Cathedral City; killed while on patrol in Iraq. He is believed to be the first Chinese national to be killed in the Iraq war. At this funeral, an Army representative presented his parents with the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and documents granting him U.S. citizenship.
this is america, and in america we drive american cars
One thing is clear. NASCAR team owner Jack Roush really doesn't like Toyota. And all things Japanese, for that matter: Sorry Jack, war metaphors don't fly here. I'm guessing the guy doesn't think a hell of a lot of globalization. Hey, come join the 21st century, Roush.
Here's a brief review of Year of the Fish, a film that made its premiere at Sundance last week: Sundance, day nine: fish stories. It screened after my brief trip to Park City, so I didn't get a chance to catch it, but it sounded interesting... at the very least. It's a Cinderella story based on a Chinese folktale, set in New York with Chinese immigrants and massage parlors and all that. It's also pseudo-animated with a rotoscope effect, a la A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, and has a pretty decent cast. Here's a brief interview with the director: David Kaplan, Year of the Fish. And here's film's website.
the motel dvd winners... and another chance to win
We have a winner! Five winners, actually. Thank you to everyone who sent in an entry for last week's Motel DVD/poster giveaway, courtesy of Palm Pictures. Our five lucky winners are:
Stephen H. of Powell, OH Nina W. of Philadelphia, PA Koji S. of San Marino, CA Brian W. of San Francisco, CA Davina W. of New York, NY
They're walking away with a shiny new copy of the Motel DVD, as well as an autographed poster. It pays to play! Everyone else who sent in an address will be receiving a funny Motel doorhanger. Hey, it's better than nothing. Michael Kang appreciates the support. But if you're feeling kind of bummed about losing, and still feeling pretty lucky...
...Write a funny story about your mom or dad for another chance to win! In conjunction with the release of both The Motel and Georgia Lee's Red Doors out on DVD today, Asian American mom and dad blogs Kimchi Mamas and Rice Daddies have teamed up for a special giveaway. Basically, you have to tell a funny story about your mom or dad for a chance to win. For details, go here and here. Good luck!
If you're not feeling that lucky, you can always go out and just buy your own copy of The Motel and/or Red Doors... Finally, you can see what all the fuss is about, add a few titles to your collection. Palm is also doing a fun YouTube group to promote the release: Puberty Sucks!, where people can share their stories about puberty. Check out the intro video by star Jeffrey Chyau himself (the kid has grown!). You know you wanna share one.
Check it out... API hip hop group Native Guns is one of the five finalists for MP3.com's Get Exposed contest, where users get to vote for their favorite artist. The top two acts chosen will win an online concert performance to be broadcast live on MP3.com. If you're not familiar with Native Guns, they're a great group of conscious emcees who have also shown a commitment to community. So show some support and vote for Native Guns! (The only catch is, you have to register with MP3.com.) To learn more about the group, go to their website or MySpace.
Here's a really really short interview of Justin Lin talking about Finishing Game, including a brief clip from the movie: Justin Lin on Finishing the Game. And here's an behind-the-scenes interesting article on some of the digital intermediate effects they used to achieved the "70s grind-house look" of the film: Finishing the (DI) Game. The article includes a short clip, though I think it's a bit of a spoiler...
George Takei made his debut on Heroes last night, showing his face and looking very Sulu-like at the end of the episode. He plays Hiro's father, "a powerful Japanese industrialist." TV Guide has an interview with him here: Star Trek's George Takei Teases a "Tantalizing" Heroes Visit. I can't believe he actually had to audition for the role.
This is a Mallard Fillmore strip from last week...
Again, with the dog-eating jokes! I don't think I've ever actually read this comic strip before, but perusing the archives, I've come to the conclusion that it's highly unfunny and unoriginal.
Some things never change... According to a researcher, light-skinned immigrants in the United States make more money on average than those with darker complexions, and the main reason appears to be discrimination: Study Says Skin Tone Affects Earnings. A law and economics professor at Vanderbilt University looked at a government survey of 2,084 legal immigrants to the United States from around the world and found that those with the lightest skin earned an average of 8 percent to 15 percent more than similar immigrants with much darker skin. That's racist!
We previously mentioned that M. Night Shyamalan had signed on to adapt a big screen version of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender... presumably an attempt to rebuild some credibility after the critical beating he took over Lady in the Water. Variety now reports that he's also penned an original script with the working title The Green Effect, about "a large-scale, cataclysmic environmental crisis that turns into a struggle by mankind to overcome nature": Shyamalan Reworking The Green Effect. Let's hope it's a return to what he's good at...
From Speedy Gonzalez to the Magical Negro, this article attempts to name the top ten stereotypes in cinema history: From Borat to Mammy. Making the list are some of our favorites, including Long Duk Dong from Sixteen Candles and Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's. They've also got Pagoda from The Royal Tenenbaums. Makes me want to go back and watch all these movies again! Hollywood, you're awesome. (Thanks, Jim.)
I've been getting emails left and right telling me about this video making the YouTube rounds... this comedian Anjelah Johnson does an impression of a Vietnamese nail salon in her routine: Anjelah Johnson - Nail Salon. I don't quite know what to make of it, mainly because I've got people telling me, "I'm Vietnamese, and I think this is so racist!" but also an equal number of people telling me, "I'm Vietnamese and I think this is dead-on hilarious!" Personally, I give her props for doing her homework, but I'm never really fan of non-Asians doing stupid Asian accents in their acts, no matter how "dead-on" they think they may or may not be. And come on, the nail salon thing has been done to death.
While the President gave his State of the Union address last week, Congressman Mike Honda, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus provided the State of APIA Community," highlighting APIA community needs in healthcare, education, immigration, and military: CHAIR OF CONGRESSIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN CAUCUS PROVIDES "STATE OF APIA COMMUNITY"
Here's a great piece by one of the original gangstas of rock journalism Ben Fong-Torres, offering his take on the crop of wannabe-writer contestants on the new MTV reality show I'm From Rolling Stone: He was from Rolling Stone -- he can tell you what it's really like. By the way, Khrishtine DeLeon, the Pinay contestant reppin' for the Bay Area on the show, has apparently got into a bit of a scuffle with the internet haters: Reality stars hate on the haters online
I've mentioned a couple of Nanking-related films in the works over the last year... the documentary Nanking premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this month. There's also a narrative feature in development based on Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking. On the other side of things, a Japanese director has announced plans to shoot a revisionist spin on the Nanking Massacre in which he claims the massacre of Chinese by the Japanese Imperial Army is nothing more than political propaganda: Filmmaker to paint Nanjing slaughter as just myth. The historical claim to "memory" over this story, seventy years later, still causes so much pain and controversy. And it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.
Just a reminder... I'm still accepting entries for the The Motel DVD giveaway. You can win a copy of the The Motel DVD (out in stores January 30th from Palm Pictures) as well as an autographed theatrical poster signed by cast and crew. All you have to do is email me with your name and mailing address, along with "MOTEL DVD" clearly written in the subject line by the end of Sunday, January 28th (I've extended the deadline). I'll throw all the entries in a bucket and choose five winners. Everyone who enters and submits their address will receive a funny Motel doorhanger. By the way, duplicate entries will be tossed out. Entries that don't include a mailing address will be tossed out. Fools who can't follow simple instruction will be tossed out. So get your entries in for a chance to win.
Yesterday on NPR's Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first American officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq on the grounds that he thinks the war is illegal: Officer Refused to Deploy to Iraq. She also interviews one of Watada's lawyer, Eric Seitz. Watada is now being court-martialed for his refusal, and for statements he made opposing the war and the Bush administration's leadership. This guy is NOT a coward. If anything, to me, he's extraordinarily brave to follow his conscience and convictions about the war. Unfortunately, his decision now comes with a price.
TV Guide has a good interview with James Kyson Lee, who plays Ando on Heroes: Heroes Preview: Is Ando More Than Just a Trusty Sidekick?. He's sort of C3P0 to Hiro's R2D2. He and Masi Oka have really great chemistry, but I do hope they give Ando more to do and develop his character a little better. As one of the few "power-less" characters on the show, they'll eventually need something more to keep him interesting...
This is just appalling... Three football players at Guilford College, a school with a Quaker background, face assault and ethnic intimidation charges after an attack on three Palestinian students last weekend: Palestinians Beaten at Guilford College. The victims were beaten with fists, feet and brass knuckles early Saturday by attackers who called them "terrorists" and used racial slurs. More here: Violence strikes campus
Steve Kang, who served as the engineering dean at UC Santa Cruz for six years, was named as chancellor of UC Merced last week: First Korean to Become Chancellor of Four-Year University in US. He's the first Korean to head a four-year university in the United States.
I've been hearing about this new MTV reality show, Maui Fever, which is causing a bit of controversy among real Maui residents who say the show's "sexual content and all-white cast gives viewers a skewed impression of their island": Locals object to MTV's new 'Maui Fever'. The show's seven main stars—two women and five men—are all Caucasian. That's funny, because according to the 2000 census, Maui County is 31 percent Asian, 10 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 22 percent mixed race. And whites are just 33 percent. But hey, this is MTV, where "reality" is just a funny word. Some folks have started an online petition protesting the show: Cancel Maui Fever
Does anyone else find it a bit disturbing that this op-ed piece discusses adoption from China so blatantly in terms of supply-and-demand? It's like China's supposed to be some kind of baby factory: The Mystery of the Chinese Baby Shortage
iaLink has an interview with composer Woody Pak: Making Music Out of Chaos. He has as provided the sountrack for several Asian American films like The Grace Lee Project, Miss Monday, and most recently Grace Lee's American Zombie, which premiered at Slamdance last week. He just released an album, Mood Spheres, an interesting collection of his compositions. I haven't picked it up, but I've liked the snippets I've heard here and there. Learn more and hear samples over at his MySpace or at Chaos Theory Music.
Here's a story in the New York Times on the Happy House Chinese takeout restaurant in Brooklyn, violently robbed (twice!) recently for the first time in seven years of business: An Unthinkable Crime, Until Someone Finally Thought of It. The Wongs seem like your typical Chinese American family, trying to make an honest living... unfortunately, the threat of violence now comes along with it.
Army Sgt. Jae Moon of Levittown, PA, died in Baghdad when a roadside bomb detonated near his patrol unit on Christmas Day. NPR's Morning Edition ran a story on him this week: Pennsylvania Family Struggles with Soldier's Death
Southern California theater-goers.... Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters has been adapted for the stage by Center Theatre Group is currently playing through February 11th at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City:
A tragi-comic look at the Philippines during the reign of Marcos, and the conflicts experienced by Asian immigrants caught between cultures.
Brought to life through a diversity of characters including a soft-porn movie star, a Jesuit priest, a Filipino-American Californian, a hustler and deejay, a movie usherette and Imelda Marcos herself, the world of Dogeaters is beautiful, lush, and always volatile – a wondrous bundle of contradictions where mundane reality, the supernatural, the spiritual and the carnal collide and coexist.
This is so nerdy I think my head my explode. This dude Mark Leung made a series of videos on YouTube called College Saga. It's a basically a live-action parody of role playing video games like Final Fantasy and Zelda, among others. It's geeky as hell, and kind of clever, especially if you're familiar with the genre. I didn't finish watching the whole thing... I think I lost patience, which is probably why I never got into these video games in the first place. But maybe you'll like it. View it here, here, here and here.
All right, a few days late (I needed some time to recover)... but let me tell you about the rest of my Sundance experience, as promised. On Sunday afternoon, I had the privelege of attending the world premiere screening of Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a documentary that tells the stories of the survivors of the atomic bomb. Sobering, powerful, and totally mesmerizing, the film doesn't pull refuses to pull any punches and explores the catastrophic results of atomic weapons from those who experienced it firsthand. I saw numerous members of the audience wiping away tears during the course of the film. Afterwards, it received not one, but two standing ovations. In addition to cast and crew, one of the survivors profiled in the film was present for the Q&A, and shared some powerful words. When the survivor of an atomic bombing has something to say, you listen.
Rather than politicizing or laying blame for the bombings, more than anything, the film drives home the necessity of making these stories are known and heard by all, before this generation of survivors is lost and forgotten. They are living proof of the futile suffering caused by nuclear war—an even greater reality today, considering that the world's nations now possess the power to literally destroy the earth and everyone on it. Big props to Okazaki and crew for this moving, important work. I'm told that White Light/Black Rain's will probably have a pretty limited festival run, and then you'll definitely see it on HBO by the end of the year. Heck, I think it has a good chance at making Oscar's short list next year. Seek it out if you can.
Also on Sunday afternoon, I attended the annual APA "Meet the Filmmakers" Reception at China Panda, the only Chinese restaurant in Park City. They throw this party every year, and I'm told this one was the biggest yet. It felt like the biggest yet... because there were like, three thousand people in the room, wall to wall. Okay, more like 300? Crowded and hot as hell. With food that reminded me of the old college days, when the dorm dining hall would attempt to make "Asian food." Still, the reception was a great to place to connect with Asian American folks at Sundance, both old friends and new. I spotted my hero Yul Kwon, winner of Survivor, across the room, but it was so damn crowded I never got the chance to meet him. I just wanted to shake his hand, man. Sad. You rule, Yul.
At midnight, I was one of the fortunate few who attended the world premiere of Justin Lin's Finishing the Game, a mockumentary about the fictional search to find a replacement for Bruce Lee after his sudden death only halfway through filming Game of Death. As a big Bruce fan, and an even bigger fan of the mythology surrounding his films, I'd been looking forward to seeing this for months. But first, I had to go through a minor ordeal to get a ticket to the screening. At Sundance, if you're not one of the mighty elite with advance tickets, or couldn't get your hands on the scarce few tickets that went on sale in the morning, your only feasible option is to wait in the rush line. Two hours prior to the screening, you're supposed to line up so they can give you a number. You come back half an hour before the screening, line up in order, and they let in as many as they can. Sometimes a few, sometimes a lot. Simple, right? Problem is, film fans are crazy about their Sundance screenings, so people seem to line up earlier and earlier. Determined to get into this screening, I show up to get in the rush line extra early, only to find that there is already a line, about thirty people deep. Actually, it isn't so much a line, but it's an unofficial wait list organized by none other than Roger Fan.
Are you on the list? For the sake of order and organization, he literally started a numbered list for folks wanting to see Finishing the Game. The rush line for the previous screening hadn't even gone in yet.
So we eventually get in line, and it's like a big ol' party. Thankfully, we're in this weird dark tunnel, shielded from the 4-degree weather outside. All this for a movie. That's director Justin Lin, above, waiting in the rush line to get extra tickets for his own movie. I was holding number 23—a pretty good spot in line—but big big thanks to Justin, Julie and Roger, who also did everything they could to make sure I got in. Hell yes. I got in.
The screening was a ton of fun. Seemed like half the audience had some kind of connection to the movie (actor, crew, friend of), so everybody was hooting and hollering and being crazy (in a good way) during the entire screening. So, I know you're wondering... is the movie any good? Overall, Finishing the Game is just big goofy fun. Justin and Co. have assembled a clever, slick, well-produced mockumentary with some brilliant moments, and you can tell they had a blast making it. I won't say the movie's perfect. It definitely isn't consistent, and more than a few jokes fall flat... but there are also plenty of shining moments, with some sly commentary on Hollywood and race thrown in. Justin has proven that he straddle a career with both low-budget indie and big-budget studio projects with his credibility intact, and he's brought along all the friends he's met along the way. Familiar faces and cameos populate the film all over the place. Roger Fan and Sung Kang put in some great performances as wannabe Bruce Lee replacements. Also look for guys like Dustin Nguyen, Leonardo Nam, Parry Shen, Brian Tee (almost unrecognizable) and even MC Hammer making appearances. And man, I loved the look and feel of the film, from the fake kung fu movie footage right down to the costuming and bad 1970s hair. I even caught a glimpse of myself, having spent a day on the set as an extra over the summer. Good times.
All in all, it was a great way to end my stay at the Sundance Film Festival. I was on a plane home just hours later. I'm sure Finishing the Game will be making the festival rounds this year, but hopefully it'll get picked up for theatrical distribution, and we'll all be seeing Bruce Lee wannabes on a big screen near you.
Long time readers of this site know that we've been following along with the Anna Mae He case for several years... Shaoqiang and Qin Luo He lost custody of their baby daughter after putting her in what they said was temporary foster care with an American family, the Bakers. Yesterday, they won their seven year legal battle to get her back. In a unanimous decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court said a Memphis judge wrongly took away the Chinese couple's parental rights: Chinese parents win back their daughter. Anna Mae He turns eight this month. I've been astounded by the Bakers' stubborn, blind refusal to recognize the parental rights of the Hes, but more than anything, I've always maintained that the person who's going to suffer most from this situation is Anna Mae herself. She will now eventually be reunited with her rightful parents, but separated from the only parents she's ever known. Traumatic, to say the least.
Academy Award nominations were announced this morning: 'Dreamgirls' Picks Up Most Oscar Nods. I was actually up at 5:30am PST to watch the announcment. Some thoughts... Dreamgirls, surprisingly, was shut out of the Best Picture category after being considered a strong potential frontrunner. Could Martin Scorsese finally pick up that elusive Oscar trophy for The Departed, his remake of Hong Kong cop thriller Infernal Affairs? And it looks like moving Letters From Iwo Jima's release date to December was a good idea for Warner Brothers, because the film was nominated for several awards, including Best Picture, Clint Eastwood for Best Director, and Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis (boo) for Best Original Screenplay. Other nominees of interest include Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi for Best Supporting Actress in Babel and Deep Mehta's Water for Best Foreign Language Film. Also, Ruby Yang's The Blood of Yingzhou District was nominated for Best Documentary (Short Subject). I've seen this film, and it's extremely well done, but also extremely depressing. I guess you can't really make a feel-good movie about children in China who have lost their parents to AIDS. Anyway, read the full list of Oscar nominations here.
Hey Seattle! The 2007 Northwest Asian American Film Festival, Washington State's largest showcase for Asian American films and videos, is happening this week, January 25-28 in Seattle. They've got a fantastic schedule of Asian American cinema, and this is your chance to check it out. NWAAFF would like to invite you, the angry Asian readers of this website, to be a part of the festivities. So you guys get the group rate. This means that you can attend evening screenings for $7 (normally $10) and afternoon screenings for $5 (normally $7). Anyone who mentions "Angry Asian Man" at the box office will automatically receive the discount. Also, anyone who wants to buy tickets in advance online can select the group rate rather than the general admission. Cool, right? So get angry, and support some Asian American cinema. Here's an article on the festival: A five-day festival of films and fun. And here: Lights, camera... Asians. Go here for more info.
Oh yeah... my pal Maggie (we go way back) implores me to tell you that the Pork Filled Players, Seattle's own Asian American sketch comedy group, will be performing before the screening of Sung H. Kim's Mighty Warriors of Comedy, a documentary about the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors. Now you know. Check out the film, see some comedy, have a few laughs.
As I've mentioned before, Michael Kang's indie feature film The Motel will be released on DVD next week, January 30th. Pre-order it here or here. To celebrate the release, we're partnering up with the good folks at Palm Pictures for a kickass giveaway. Five lucky readers will receive a copy of The Motel DVD and a autographed theatrical poster signed by the cast (Jeffrey Chyau, Samantha Futerman, Sung Kang, Alexis Chang, Jade Wu) and director Mike Kang. How cool is that? You know you want it. To enter, just send an email with your name and mailing address, along with "MOTEL DVD" clearly written in the subject line by the end of Friday, January 26th. I'll throw all the entries into a bucket and pick five winners. Easy. To top it off, everyone who enters and submits their address will receive a funny Motel doorhanger, pictured here front and back:
Don't you want one of these hanging on your bedroom doorknob? Get your entries in, and it's yours. And maybe even the DVD and poster! But like Lotto, you gotta be in it to win it...
According to Variety, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) has signed on to direct the big-budget drama Shantaram starring Johnny Depp: Mira Nair to Direct Depp's Shantaram. Production is likely to begin this fall.
Here's an interesting article from the New York Times on the large growing divide between the city's Chinese American wealth and the unmet needs of the new immigrant Chinese American poor: Class Divide in Chinese-Americans' Charity
Back from Sundance. It was one hell of a trip, a whirlwind, and my final day/night there was the most eventful... I'm tired as hell, so I need to crash. But proper updates will come later, including some words about the world premieres of Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain and Justin Lin's Finishing the Game. Promise.
Here's the new trailer for the U.S. release of the South Korean monster movie blockbuster The Host: Second US Trailer For Bong Joon-Ho's The Host. The movie opens in theaters on March 9th from Magnolia Pictures. The official site's here.
Hey now. Soulful crooner Kevin So's long-anticipated new CD A Brighter Day will be available in stores on February 14th. It's also available now on iTunes. Learn more about the album here.
The Chicago Reader has a story on Iris Shim's The House of Suh, her documentary about the case of Andrew Suh, the good Korean American son who murdered his sister's boyfriend in 1993: The Good Son. They're having a benefit to raise funds for the film on February 9th at Martyr's in Chicago. Find out more at the House of Suh website here.
Snow and cinema. That's what it's all about right now in Park City. Yesterday, I had the chance to attend the world premiere screening of Grace Lee's American Zombie at the Slamdance Film Festival (sort of the low-rent Sundance happening simultaneously). It's an entertaining, nicely produced mockumentary about a community of the living dead living and working among us. Zombies. It's a solid work in both the mockumentary and zombie genre tradition, with a great cast that includes Suzy Nakamura and even Grace Lee as herself. Despite less-than-ideal screening conditions (there were several projection/sound complications and the theater was hot as hell), the Slamdance audience seemed to have a good time. Grace as well as several members of cast and crew were on hand to answer questions afterwards. All in all, a very clever, inventive and creepy follow-up to The Grace Lee Project.
Woke up crazy-ass early this morning to line up at the box office in the freezing cold. Sundance sells a limited number of day-of tickets, and I wanted to get my hands on tickets for Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain and Justin Lin's Finishing the Game. The box office opens at 8:00, so Michael Chen from SDAFF and I were in line around 6:15. Madness. The things you do for the love of cinema. I managed to get tickets for White Light, but Finishing the Game was gone gone gone. Completely sold out, dammit. The saddest part was, we ran into Roger Fan, one of the stars of Finishing the Game, who was way, way behind us in line also to get tickets... to his own movie. Looks like I'll be setting up camp in the rush line tonight... wish me luck.
The annual Meet the Filmmakers Reception is this afternoon at the China Panda Restaurant—the one and only Chinese restaurant in Park City. More updates later...
Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty has withdrawn her accusation that she was the victim of racist bullying on Britain's Big Brother: Indian star withdraws racism charge in TV row. Her comments sparked a diplomatic incident, with effigies being burnt on the streets of India—and now she withraws her accusation? Man, and things were just getting interesting... Meanwhile, Jade Goody, the housemate behind the racist taunting, has been facing the consequences of her actions: British bully of Bollywood queen battered by backlash
Sundance! I've made it to frosty Park City. So far I've spotted Bradley Whitford, Crispin Glover, Kevin Bacon, Juliette Lewis and the history's largest gathering of women wearing UGG boots. More updates from the festival coming soon...
There's less than one week left to vote for comedian Steve Byrne in Comedy Central's Stand-Up Showdown. They'll take the top 20 vote-getters and air their shows all day in order of popularity on January 28th. Steve's currently holding it down in the top ten, and you can keep him there (you can vote once a day). All the way, baby.
Jeff Yang's "Asian Pop" column is dedicated to the Master of Ramen Noodles, the late Momofuku Ando: Forever and Ever, Ramen. Let's face it—this man changed the world.
This week, Kevin Brown, a police officer's son who beat up two Chinese American men in a racist attack in Queens last August pleaded guilty to assault as a hate crime: Cop's son pleads guilty to hate attack on Qns. men
All right, good people. I'm off to spend the weekend in Park City, Utah. That's right—the Sundance Film Festival (and Slamdance too) is going on right now, and I'm joining in on the fun. It looks to be a good time of films, friends, parties and cold cold cold weather. This year, Asian American are representin' in full force: Asian Pacific Film Experience in Park City 2007. There are a number of events planned for the festival, including the annual Filmmakers Reception, the Asian Pacific American Filmmakers Lounge, and a panel discussion featuring Sung Kang (Finishing the Game), Yul Kwon (Survivor: Cook Islands), Grace Lee (American Zombie), Justin Lin (Finishing the Game), Suzy Nakamura (American Zombie), Dustin Nguyen (Finishing the Game), Janet Yang (Dark Matter, Year of the Fish). If you're planning on being at the festival (maybe you're already there), go here for more information. Here's a full list of films by Asian/APA filmmakers:
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL Sadik Ahmed - Tanju Miah Marjan Alizadeh - Men Understand Each Other Better Gregg Araki - Smiley Face Paul Chan - 1st Light Shu Lea Cheang - Mobiopera Chen Shi-Zheng - Dark Matter Tze Chun - Windowbreaker Guo Xiaolu - How is Your Fish Today? (Jin Tian de Yu Zen Me Yang?) Gina Kim - Never Forever Kim Tai-Sik - Driving with My Wife's Lover (Ane-Eui Aein-Eul Mannada) Lee Jong Yoon - A Day Out Justin Lin - Finishing the Game Helen Mendoza - The Bible Tells Me So Shirin Neshat - Zarin Steven Okazaki - White Light/Black Rain: The Desstruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Otomo Katsuhiro - Bugmaster (Mushishi) Park Yong-Jin - Duct Tape and Cover Ian Iqbal Rashid - How She Move Roh Gyeong-Tae - The Last Dining Table Auraeus Solito - Circumcision (Tuli) Anocha Suwichakornpong - Graceland Taika Waititi - Eagle Vs Shark Janet Yang - Dark Matter/ Year of the Fish Paul Yi - Crossing the Line Jessica Yu - Protagonist
SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL Jenova Chen - flow Yann Demange - Alan and Samir Murata Katsura - Zekuu Shon Kim - Latent Sorrow Grace Lee - American Zombie Lee Min Joo - Song of Haenyo Gavin Lim - Hello John Nijhawan - A Hooker & Dirt Road End Gitanjali Rao - Printed Rainbow Pragya Tomar - Mandir Tami Yeager - Dream in Doubt
I'll only be around through the weekend, but some of the features I'm hoping to check out are Grace Lee's American Zombie, Steven Okazaki's White Light/Black Rain, Justin Lin's Finishing the Game and Gina Kim's Never Forever... that is, if I can get tickets. I will try to blog updates from the festival. See you in the cold!
The Daily Princetonian has a story about the controversy sparked by its own "Lian Ji" joke column the other day: Joke op-ed sparks ire, controversy. Here's their official response to emailers, with the usual "we did not intend to offend" excuse:
Thank you for taking the time to write to us.
Since publishing Wednesday's joke issue, we have learned that some of our readers were offended by a column satirizing Asian stereotypes. This response surprised us: We did not seek to offend, and we sincerely regret having upset some of our readers.
Many criticisms of the column, however, do not recognize its purpose. Using hyperbole and an unbelievable string of stereotypes, we hoped to lampoon racism by showing it at its most outrageous. We embraced racist language in order to strangle it. At its worst, the column was a bad joke; at its best, it provoked serious thought about issues of race, fairness and diversity.
The column in question was penned by a diverse group of students - including several Asians on our senior editorial staff - who had no malicious intent. Given our purpose, we are deeply troubled by and reject the allegation of racism.
We welcome debate about our column, especially in the pages of this newspaper. We hope our readers will see the column for what it is and that the opportunity for constructive discussion about race and race-related issues will not be lost.
Sincerely,
Chanakya Sethi, Editor-in-chief
Christian Burset, Neir Eshel, Anna Huang, Nancy Khov, Alex Maugeri, Tom Senn and Ellen Young
Editors, 130th Managing Board, The Daily Princetonian
The new trailer for Danny Boyle's Sunshine is up and running over at Sunshine. The film stars Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong and Cliff Curtis, among others. It looks awesome. (Did I just see Michelle Yeoh on fire?) The movie opens this spring from Fox Searchlight.
Now, this President has listened to some people, the so-called Vulcans in the White House, the ideologues. But unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek, who made the decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it on ideology. These aren't Vulcans. There are Klingons in the White House. But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war. It is wrong.
Actual words spoken on the floor of the United States Congress.
Here's an article on from the KOFIC website about a number of Korean actors who are making the leap over to roles in American films: Korean Stars in Hollywood. It mentions Park Joong-hoon, who will be starring in the comedy Bibimbap opposite My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos. As reported here earlier this year, Jeon Ji-hyun will be starring in the Hollywood remake of the Japanese anime film Blood: The Last Vampire. And of course, Jeong Jun-ho will soon be seen in Mike Kang's gangster film West 32nd. Good stuff. That's a lot of Koreans coming to a theater near you...
Speaking of Korea, Kaiju Shakedown recently posted some photos leaked from the set of the Hollywood remake of My Sassy Girls: COMPARE AND CONTRAST: NEW VS. OLD SASSY GIRL. More photos here. I'm sorry, but Elisha Cuthbert is no Jeon Ji-hyun.
USA Today ran a story yesterday on ImaginAsian's increasing efforts to bring Asian content to the masses: ImaginAsian tries to capture imagination of many groups. I've actually got a quote in the article, though don't quite remember saying that. But I suppose it was something to that effect. In the crowded world of all the upstart wannabe Asian American media companies, ImaginAsian seems to be doing a really good job of diversifying its efforts, expanding to radio broadcasting and film distribution in addition to the cable channel. But as Jeff Yang says, it's still anybody's game. Who will come out on top?
This entry is dedicated to news from China. According to this article, a billboard in Shenzhen, China advertising the services of "a marriage consultancy specializing in alliances between Chinese women and foreign men" is being criticized by male pedestrians as "humiliating" towards Chinese men: Ad Accused of Humiliating Chinese Men.
On sort of a related note, acording to this article, China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting in part from the country's tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced: China facing major gender imbalance.
And on a related note to that, according to this article, pregnant women from mainland China who are near their due date will be turned away at Hong Kong borders if they cannot prove they have appointments in the city's hospitals: Hong Kong limits pregnant Chinese women. Many women from the mainland come to Hong Kong in order to evade China's one-child policy, take advantage of higher quality health care or earn Hong Kong residency rights for their babies. And that's the news from China.
This article, by "Lian Ji," ran yesterday in the "joke edition" of the Daily Princetonian. I'm not laughing: Princeton University is racist against me, I mean, non-whites. The piece is obviously meant to mock rejected applicant Jian Li, who is reportedly suing the university for discrimination... but also manages to offend the sensibilities of Asian Americans on multiple levels:
Then she have nerve to say my outside activities were "not all that outstanding." What do you mean not outstanding? I make record for number of science fairs entered. I stay after school with Mu Alpha Theta eight hours everyday after school to memorize the 2,309,482,039,482,309 digits of pi. I play yo-yo. I memorize W
is "a series of thoughtful, moving essays on the troubled relationship between modern medical practice and the emotional events surrounding death," and it's receiving favorable acclaim. Here's an NPR interview with Chen: 
