Hyphen contributor Alvin Lin reviews recent movies on the Asian American Film Festival circuit: Shanghai Calling, and Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey.

38 points against the Lakers! 7 assists, and he outscored Kobe. That's the latest -- but hey, we can say we knew him When.

What the increased use of token Asian models potentially says about the fashion industry, as well as our own buying patterns and preferences.

Recent evidence suggests that Rebecca Zahau did not commit suicide, as was originally concluded by San Diego police.

California-based pipa artist Jie Ma has spent the past few years creating a unique blend of music that incorporates traditional Eastern instruments with Western musical elements. Her CD is an innovative contribution to the overall body of American music. Her work is a twist on classical and new age genres, in much the same way that Shanghai Restoration Project is a combination of Eastern sounds with modern hip hop and electronica.

The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF) recently finished after a strong lineup of films and events. One extremely moving, honest, and powerful film was Stephanie Wang-Breal's Wo Ai Ni Mommy, which Hyphen's Momo Chang reviewed back in March. The film's ability to create such strong emotional reactions from the audience merits some additional review and commentary. Please note that the review below includes a spoiler. Before proceeding, the film can be watched on PBS online now, for free, until the end of the month.

Yesterday Funemployed, an entertaining 11-episode web series, released its final episode. The series is about two best friends who lose their jobs and decide to try careers as internet media stars, all while juggling romantic interests.

Director Yu Chieh Cheng's Yang Yang is a Taiwanese film about identity. It was made with help from Ang Lee, who served as a consultant to the film through Lee's "Pushing Hands" film initiative. The program supports new directors, and its Mandarin name has double meaning since it was also the name of Ang Lee's first film.

The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is back!  It's taking place at multiple venues in New York City from July 15th to 24th, beginning this Thursday. The festival's calendar of films, workshops, and panels can be found here.

The opening night presentation film is Manila Skies, the weekend centerpiece film is Au Revoir Taipei, and the closing night film is The People I've Slept With. Hyphen recently reviewed The People I've Slept With, as well as interviewed its lead actress Karin Anna Cheung (Better Luck Tomorrow).

One could argue that the Karate Kid remake goes back to some of the original roots of American cinematic martial arts. Martial arts were found in many of the Blaxploitation films of the 1970’s, but the past 40 years of American cinema have been more of a white appropriation of martial arts culture, without including significant black actors despite strong support from that community.

There's a disturbing research study out of Boston University, on STD rates among Asian Americans. Professor Hyeouk Chris Hahm led the study, after noticing high STD rates among Asian Americans while working for ten years as a psychiatric social worker.

Football fans, the NFL draft starts tomorrow through Saturday, and Virginia Tech's left tackle Ed Wang is projected to be drafted anywhere from the 3rd to 5th round, which would reportedly make him the first Chinese American football player drafted into the NFL.

FarEastMovement, the extremely talented hip hop group out of LA, just signed with CherryTree Records. CherryTree, which is owned by Universal, also manages artists like LadyGaga and LMFAO. FarEastMovement first achieved mainstream recognition with their song "Round Round" in Justin Lin's movie Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Since then they've seen their popularity take off, getting their music played in other films and television shows, as well as on the radio on the West Coast. 

Jeremy Lin has been named one of eleven finalists for the Bob Cousy Award (named after the Boston Celtics legend), given to the best college basketball point guard. The selection criteria emphasizes "leadership, team work, success, and fundamentals," which I believe describes Jeremy Lin to a T, with his old-school style play leading Harvard to one of its best seasons in history.

Popular ESPN morning talk show host Mike Greenberg found himself in some hot water this morning after letting out a slip of the tongue on-air while trying to say "Martin Luther King Jr.," instead saying "Martin Luther Coon Jr."

Yesterday Dana O'Neil wrote an excellent ESPN piece about basketball extraordinaire Jeremy Lin, the star and captain of Harvard's basketball team.

I thought this was an excellent keynote speech given by Calvin Sun at last week's Southeast Regional Conference of Asian American Leaders (SERCAAL)*. I first came across Calvin's work several years ago on Asian American female body image while he was still in college, during which time he also helped create an annual college film festival and was also Columbia's former senior class VP. He's usually involved in a million different passions, activist and not, and it says a lot that he was chosen to speak, given the other speakers they've had. I believe the experiences, perspectives, and ideals he shares here sound representative of a lot of other passionate mid/late-twenties Asian American activists right now helping to shape the country in their own ways. Sun mentions being inspired by Better Luck Tomorrow, which leads me to wonder how influential BLT has been in awakening other Generation-Y Asian Americans...

*conference name corrected, with thanks to Julia Yip

The Committee of 100 recently published its survey, titled Still the Other?, to understand views of Chinese Americans and Asian Americans among America's general population. I'll get to the punchline first, which is that significant racial attitudes and suspicions still exist. Some highlights are that most Americans still don't distinguish between Asians or Asian Americans, and see us all as one big homogeneous group, or as not American.

Sam #1. In an interesting development, director Sam Raimi is going to be overseeing a remake of the Zhang Yimou movie House of Flying Daggers. Why are there so many Hollywood remakes of recent movies created by Asian people? Hollywood remade The Hulk only a few years after Ang Lee directed it, remade Infernal Affairs into The Departed, and there are more than a dozen other recent examples from this decade of Hollywood remakes of brand-new quality Asian films. What is wrong with simply showing the same story with the original Asian faces in them?

Sam #2. I'm excited to pass along that Sam Yoon recently announced
his candidacy for mayor of Boston, attempting to beat out two other
candidates to take over the post long held by Tom "mumbles" Menino. For
those unaware of his background, Sam Yoon is a Princeton and Harvard
educated activist who just a few years ago became the first-ever
elected Asian American Boston city councilman. He is also a co-founder
of the Asian Political Leadership Fund,
which supports and fosters Asian American political leaders around the
country. Interestingly, most of his funds have been raised from out-of-state. Learn more about Sam Yoon and his campaign by visiting his site.

Wired Magazine recently had an interesting article it called 'Recipe for Disaster: The Formula that Killed Wall Street,' speculating that the roots of the American financial crisis might be traced back to an economic model created by mathematician David X. Li. As I read it, I couldn't help but think the underlying message throughout the piece was to point the finger conveniently at one Asian guy for everything.

Want to do something about the Miley Cyrus faux pas and her weak apology?