Hollywood Chinese, by award-winning documentary filmmaker Arthur Dong, opens in the Los Angeles area and New York City theaters today. Go check it out. We posted about it when it opened in the San Francisco Bay Area. I also interviewed Arthur Dong for the local paper, the Oakland Tribune.

It's great to see documentaries take over the big screen. I read in a recent edition of the Films Arts magazine that documentaries have gained more mainstream appeal since films like "Fahrenheit 9/11," "Supersize Me" and "An Inconvenient Truth" came out.

Still, they are a labor of love -- most documentary filmmakers are not out to make big Hollywood bucks. So please let's continue this trend of supporting documentaries on the big screen. An Asian American one, at that! I think you'll enjoy the film.

The film plays at the following theaters:

The Tule Lake Pilgrimage 2008 is now taking applications, due May 31. This year, the pilgrimage takes place July 3-6.

Tule Lake was one of 10 internment camps during WWII that held a total of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, the majority of whom were United States citizens (the first generation, Issei, were not allowed to become citizens at the time).

Tule Lake is in far Northern California near Oregon and held many of the "no, no" boys -- those who answered "no" to two confusing questions and then deemed potential enemies of the U.S.

The theme this year is to learn more about the largely unknown Segregation Center at Tule Lake, which held 12,000 of those deemed disloyal by the U.S. government. During the war, Japanese Americans were also asked to renounce their U.S. citizenship; the vast majority of those who did were incarcerated at Tule Lake.

I am always amazed when I meet people who say they had never heard of Japanese American internment during WWII until recently. Many of these folks are either white and/or grew up outside of California. And even if we think we've read/learned a lot about the topic, there're still more untold stories that need to be heard. 

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."

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.

First of all, congrats to the JabbaWockeeZ for winning America's Best Dance Crew!

It looks like they're already inspiring the youngsters. Check out this video of a 2-year-old dancing to the Jabba routine. This is the "superman" routine they did a while back.

And here's a video showing the Jabbawockeez's routine superimposed over the little one dancing:

I have not seen a lot of Asian American dramas recently that really moved me, but this one did.

The Home Song Stories, directed by Australian filmmaker Tony Ayres, focuses on a single mom (played by Joan Chen) and her two kids.

Lately there's been a lotta hype around Asians and dancing, namely that Asians can dance, despite stereotypes.

I have to admit, these days I spend a lotta my spare time at home online.

Filmmakers Tadashi Nakamura and Yasmin Fedda are featured on a recent CNN segment called "Young People Who Rock," where they highlight people under 30.

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon, my baby is napping, and I thought I'd blog today.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the role of grandparents -- and also other extended family -- in raising a child.

I recently heard about Presidential Scholar Mari Oye. This article in the Boston Globe talks about Oye, who had the chance to meet the president.

In today's San Francisco Chronicle, Helen Zia writes a powerful piece about the casualties of war.

The documentary begins by introducing us to Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, an 80-year-old homeless artist in New York City, in the months before 9/11.

I just learned that Eddy Zheng, who has been imprisoned since 1986, was released Tuesday.

Third Thursdays presents: i only date chinese*...exploring inter-ethnic asian relationships.

"Watada, Resister" is a new video recording of the historical meeting between 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who refused to deploy to Iraq, and the WW2 resisters who contested the draft.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco hosts the Preview Opening Gala of the Arts of Pacific Asia Show to support the museum’s education department and its various programs Thursday, February 1.

Native Guns, a hip-hop trio including two pinoy MCs (Kiwi and Bambu) and DJ Phatrick, is one of five finalists in an online "decent exposure"-for-a-band competition.

Just watched Air Guitar Nation last night at a sneak peek screening for the SF International Asian American Film Festival.

In love with music with Hyphen's new MUSIC ISSUE (#10)!