To kick things off, what's better than the 24th Annual Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival (formerly known as the VC FilmFest) for all you hip Los Angelenos?
Continue reading "The 24th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival"
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Photo by Ari Simphoukham
I have been meaning to blog about last week's student actions in response to the recent agreement signed between the U.S. and Vietnam, allowing for thousands of folks currently living here to be deported.
Here's a story in the Daily Bruin about last week's student demonstrations, which included UCLA, UCSD, UC Davis, and other campuses.
According to Rhummanee Hang, a Cambodian American student at UC Davis who's a member of Southeast Asians Making Immediate Change (SEAMIC), last Wednesday's demonstration at her campus had a turnout of 200. There was a march, speakers and performers, spoken word artists, emcees, dancers, and signing of postcards to representatives.
This is how she explained, in an email, why students, particularly Southeast Asian students, are speaking up against the pact:
"Southeast Asians came to the United States as a result of the wars in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). Many of the 1.5 generation are the ones at risk of getting deported because of these policies. They came here when they were very young, grew up in this country, and their lifestyle, their way of thinking and being is very "American". Many of these people are not fluent in their native language and know little about the country where they were born. To send them back to a country that they are unfamiliar with and are still suffering from the affects of the war is unfair.
The current policies itself are unfair, because it offers no second chance. There is no due process for nationals who sign their rights away. But there are numerous reasons for why they might do that. Because this affects my community, I feel it is important. We speak up because they can't do it themselves."
Continue reading "Vietnamese Deportation"
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Anyway, do you see what I see?
Continue reading "Philip Lim for GAP"
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Continue reading "Of Potheads, Heroes"
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"Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay" opens today and it's my most anticipated movie of the year now that the new "Star Trek" has been pushed back to 2009. I know I'm not the only one who's been waiting to see "Harold & Kumar."Continue reading "'Harold & Kumar' Opens Today"
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Mud, a bay area-based Hyphen favorite, released their first full-length album "Yearbook" this week! Check it out on iTunes here. As a fixture of the San Francisco music scene since 2001, Mud has
developed a strong loyal following of fans addicted to the band's heavy
guitar riffs, infectious melodies and collection of high energy pop
songs.Check out their new video for the single "Should've Known" and help them reach 25k views by this Friday for MTV consideration.
And for you bay area folk, come support them LIVE at their CD release party this Friday, April 25th. Cast of Thousands, another hyphen favorite, will be opening for them.
WHEN: Friday | 9 pm | April 25, 2008
WHERE: Slim's
333 11th St.
San Francisco, CA
COST: $13 at the door (or purchase online here)
Continue reading "Support Your Local Asian American Bands (like MUD)"
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Continue reading "Turner Classic Movies to Air Series on Asian Images in Film"
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Email me at hyphen[at]hyphenmagazine.com with the two names of the writers and performers of this project and the pair of tickets are yours. First come first served!
Continue reading "Giving Away a Pair of Tickets for "Refugee Nation""
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After 15 years in the hip-hop game, Lyrics Born has yet to hit a creative ceiling. The gravelly-voiced vocalist/producer remains inventive with his latest, "Everywhere At Once," his second solo studio album since 2003's critically acclaimed "Later That Day." As the title suggests, the album is indeed all over the place, blending hip-hop, funk, dance, go-go, R&B and dancehall -- all held together by the eclectic emcee's production skills and vocal animation.
Hyphen caught up with the Tokyo-born, Berkeley-bred emcee to talk about the new album, in stores today on ANTI-.
Continue reading "Lyrics Born on His New Album, in Stores Today"
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Below is Part I of our interview.
Continue reading "Interview with Far East Movement"
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I spent the past week in Chicago for the Association of
Asian American Studies annual meeting, and while I was there working and hence unable to attend the various panels on this year's theme of "Where is the Heart of Asian America?," the week wasn't a complete wash. I stopped by the Hiphopistan performance on Thursday night, which featured a small contingent of South Asian/American rappers from the U.S. and Asia: Abstract Vision (New York City), MC Kabir (Boston), Chee Malabar (New York City), Yogi B and Natchatra (Malaysia), and DJ Rekha (New York City). The venue and crowd were small so some light head nods and strained call-and-response were the extent of the audience participation, but luckily the performers were unfazed.
Continue reading "Hiphopistan brings South Asian MCs to the Midwest"
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"Zombie Strippers," starring porn queen Jenna Jameson and horror icon Robert Englund (a k a Freddy Krueger) opened this weekend in a limited platform release.
At Rhinos, a strip club in BF, Idaho -- Sartre, Nebraska, to be exact -- run by proprietor Ian Essko (Robert Englund), the horny clientele can only get in with a membership card. That's because George W. Bush, now in his fourth term, has banned public nudity, turning stripping into a speakeasy tea. The star pole-vaulter, Kat (Jenna Jameson), dominates the show. When a commando-turned-zombie seeks refuge in the club following a botched zombie extermination attempt at a nearby government laboratory, who does he want to munch down on? Kat, of course, but straddling life and death as a zombie oddly makes her better at her job. The guys are going bananas! Soon all the girls want in, and what follows is a zombie situation out of control.
Fascinated by the film's supposed political dimension, as well as the "Existential Philosophy Primer 101" that I received in the press packet (who does that?) which outlines its relationship to Eugene Ionesco's absurdist play "The Rhinoceros," I had to find out just what the hell was up with this highbrow-lowbrow stew of grindhouse-meets-French-intellectual-nutball. Just before the Saturday night screenings in San Francisco, I caught up with director, writer and cinematographer Jay Lee at an Italian restaurant around the corner from the theater.
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Continue reading "Fukudome doesn't find racist T-shirts in Wrigleyville funny"
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She kind of reminds me of a young Joan Chen. Not that Joan Chen could look any younger (putting the rest of us to shame).
Well, looks like CW is at it again with a second round.
Continue reading "America's Next Top Model: Bay Area Search"
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Apparently, one of our leading men from the Transit Issue, a.k.a. the 1 million prize winner of Survivor: Cook Islands, is now engaged.
Continue reading "Yul Kwon Engaged?"
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Here's one for the bay area know-it-alls. Join the CAA staff for a drink after work today as they gather to watch the next democratic candidate debate. The prime-time televised debate in Philadelphia is in advance of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary and moderated by ABC News Anchors Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos.
Continue reading "Watch the Democratic Debate with Chinese for Affirmative Action"
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The day it was available I had rushed over to the indie bookstore near my office and preened the shelf for the nicest looking copy there, gushing to the bookseller about how excited I was that they were hosting a reading the next week. She seemed less than ecstatic, giving me a polite smile as she rang up the sage hardcover.
Still, I was concerned about the other Lahiri fans who would be in attendance. Would they, too, be wearing shirts with Lahiri's face printed on the front? Would a neon or black posterboard stand out better? Should I be the one who coordinated the synchronized "We love Lahiri!" shouts from the audience?
Continue reading "Jhumpa Lahiri as Subtle as Her Writing"
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Continue reading "Arthur Dong's Hollywood Chinese"
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Continue reading "Chow Down at AAJA East West Eats"
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In my opinion, this is "must see". It reminded me of some older Tyra Banks talkshow clips on the same subject, however this segment is even more blatant and clear so that there is no mistaking what is going on.
Continue reading "'K' tells Montel About Asian Nose, Eyelid Plastic Surgery"
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Oh, and in my personal opinion, I think it's better than Cosmopolitan. I'd rather learn about a new bronzer than recycled sex tips please.
However, I have never felt compelled enough to subscribe to it, even when they offered the $1 a issue deal. I'm not sure why, but something about the magazine was just, blah.
As I was flipping through my March copy of Allure today, I discovered why.
Continue reading "India Craze"
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Until a couple of days ago, I didn't pay that much attention to what was going on in San Francisco with the Olympic torch situation.
But seeing how big the demonstrations were, and how much media attention they've garnered, and how huge the Beijing Olympics are going to be, I realized that I have to say something.
I've read the various media accounts of the protests, most of which were framed as "anti-China," "pro-China, "pro-Tibet," or some other form of "anti/pro" dichotomy.
The fact of the matter is, it's much more blurry and complicated, at least for me. I think many more Chinese Americans feel torn or conflicted rather than "pro-China" about the Olympics and about the Tibet issue. There is no monolithic Chinese American community, or voice.
There are in fact many ties between the Chinese and Tibetan communities. Though many prominent Chinese Americans like torchbearer/activist/writer Helen Zia, scholar Ling-chi Wang, and actor/director Joan Chen have voiced their perspectives, I would like to add mine to the milieu of growing voices out there.
Probably like the folks mentioned above, I have a sense of ethnic and national pride in being Chinese. I also detest the hateful and unnecessary Chinese/China-bashing that has been around, since, oh, Chinese people first landed here in America.
But I also sympathize with the struggles of Tibetan and Burmese, and ethnic minorities from Burma like the Karen people.
Continue reading "Before It's Too Late"
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Last week, I serendipitously ended up at the opening of Sorry at the (totally hot) Frey Norris Gallery in San Francisco and was happily surprised to find the works of my old friend Christine Wong-Yap (who is also in a show at Kearny Street Workshop) and Jennifer Wofford (whom Claire Light profiles in our upcoming Spaces Issue, which will hit the stands next month!).
Mailinvoice...& So If I Was You By Christine Wong-Yap
"Point of Departure" and "Nurse" by Wofford and text-based works and "Inventions" by Wong Yap will line the gallery's walls and Wong Yap's "Presents" will populate the center of the gallery. Both series of Wofford's work explore and re-interpret an imaginative comic-like narrative centered on Filipina nurses and immigration histories. Wong Yap takes wry aim at blind spots in printed language, conveying optimism and pessimism, using distorted typography and the failures and half truths of illegible words, as well as sculptural stacks of "empty" gifts.
Otherwise, the gallery has a great collection of artists in their stable and focus especially on contemporary art from the San Francisco Bay Area and classic surrealism, especially women artists. Check out their artists here. And, get off your couch, go see the show!
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Good news for director Benson Lee. According to IndieWire, his documentary Planet B-Boy (recently shown at SFIAAFF to sold-out audiences) has made $140,860 since its release. The film, only playing on 12 screens nationwide, has a $3,594 per screen average.
Continue reading "Benson Lee's B-Boys at the Box Office"
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The New York Times had a front page story today on a book project by Angela Shelton -- where she went around finding her googlegangers and then wrote about it. I found this interesting because I happen to have a famous googleganger who actually writes for the New York Times -- the other Neela Banerjee.
Continue reading "The True Story of My Googleganger"
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Sesame Street has a new neighbor running the laundromat: Leela, or Indian American actor Nitya Vidyasagar. Posted by neela at 10:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Writer Marianne Villanueva (Mayor of the Roses) is doing another reading this week (with Nona Caspers) at the Book Passage in the Ferry Building in San Francisco on Wednesday April 9th at 6 p.m., so I thought it would be a great time to kick off a new literary feature - The WRITE Questions - where we ask Asian American writers a few pressing questions. Marianne was gracious enough to respond from a trip to Tel Aviv, and on the way back to California in the Frankfurt airport.
1. What was the last book you read? What are you reading now?
MV: OK, the last book I finished reading (two days ago) was The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt, which was an absolutely fascinating dissection of a period of time and a culture (Boston Brahmin) that is as exotic to me as, say, the culture of the Andaman Indians or the Aleutians or whatever. And it has given me lots of ideas about how to go about doing a dissection of my own culture (Filipino Negrense, that is: Filipino from the island of Negros, which is in the middle of the Philippine archipelago).
The book I've just started (at 3 a.m. on Apr. 2, I have terrible insomnia) is Penelope Lively's The Photograph, and it's (so far) a very "British" novel about a cuckolded husband. And again I'm finding all sorts of interesting ways in which Lively manipulates mood and memory, that help me in writing what I think I am trying to write.
Continue reading "Introducing: The WRITE Questions for Marianne Villanueva"
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I loves me a good protest.
When it was clear that it was only a matter of days before the current Iraq war became official, I made sure that my boss and co-workers knew that I would not be coming into work. And when it was, I yelled my way through the early morning to midnight.
When I get swept up into a random march, my pulse races.
I cry at footage of mai '68.
And yet, there's something about the news of the Olympics protests in London and Paris that makes me... sad. Though my affection for the sports extravaganza has not gone beyond gymnastics circa 1984, and for all the revelations of performance-enhancing drugs shattering the athlete mythos, the fact that the torch has to hide out on a bus, extinguished, is an epic bummer.
Continue reading "They Might Not Be Giants -- Olympic Torch Conundrums"
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The front of the March 19, 2008 Strength in Unity contingent led by members & friends of ILPS, BAYAN USA, and Arab Resource & Organizing Center. Photo by Jamison Boyer (http://www.jdbcreativity.com).
Strength in Unity - Five Years Later, We March for Peace and for Each Other
by Tony V. Nguyen
When you think of the U.S. peace movement what comes to mind? Cindy Sheehan? Code Pink? Berkeley?
This individual, this group, and this city are all important players in the current U.S. movement for peace in Iraq, and their brave and tireless contribution should be commended. But there are many, many others around the country who have also been voicing their desire for true peace and justice since before the war on Iraq began.
And not all of them are white.
Continue reading "Why We March"
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Several years ago, when I first heard that the best-selling book Bringing Down the House would be made into a Hollywood movie, I was beyond excited. However, now that '21' is out, no matter how much I try to rationalize the casting decisions behind this film, I remain outraged as an American. I will attempt to explain why Hollywood's discriminatory casting process behind this film is offensive, why over 600 members on a Facebook group have called for its boycott, and why several prominent newspapers and blogs have criticized this movie, with one writer even calling it "moving Asian Americans to the back of the bus."
Continue reading "'21' Discriminatory Casting Unjustified"
Posted by Alvin at 8:19 PM | Comments (7)
"I believe that this building will dramatically reduce the amount of Asian suicides at Cornell," Skorton announced. "We also plan to fill in the gorges with those chewy bubble tea orbs so that distraught students will have to rely on other methods."
Among the centers many features are the Pokemon Card Trading Arena, the Mi-So Slipi Lounge equipped with 100 beds for study break naps, and one-seater dining areas with calculators built into the tables. Many students are most excited, however, about the center's Lucky Sun Moon Restaurant, which features MSG, beef with broccoli, and cat-fish casserole, which incorporates not catfish but a mixture of cat and flounder.
Continue reading "Another Offensive College Writer"
Posted by Alvin at 8:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
I have quite the love/hate relationship with Nicolas Cage, and honestly my use of the phrase, "But he was in Adaptation! Playing twins!" can no longer justify his work in Next, Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man, et al.
Continue reading "Nic Cage takes on Thailand"
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It looks like there has been some exciting updates from our favorite Chow Fun Food Group. Remember the post by Alvin about the new Chinese Laundry restaurant and the oh-so-original, not-racist ad that was put out back in March?
After much consideration (I'm sure), that ad was pulled and this ad appeared as its replacement.
Continue reading "More from the Restaurant "Chinese Laundry""
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Continue reading "Baseball in Japan Not a Hit for Atlanta columnist"
Posted by harry at 2:17 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Chinese Spies on the Rise?"
Posted by lisalee at 5:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "RIP Dith Pran, an Inspiration to All"
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