Slanty

Getting Your YouTube Groove on: Filipino American Style

Slanty - October 30, 2008

I was kicking around YouTube and I happened to catch some Filipino American
(and Canadian) artists who have a pretty slick vibe going on, and I'll be kind
of surprised if I don't hear about at least one of them making some more waves
in other parts of the industry. So check 'em on out, enjoy the music, and
subscribe to their channels.

Chicago Filipino American Film Festival

Slanty - October 20, 2008

The Chicago Filipino American Film Festival is getting ready to start so I
wanted to make sure and post some of the details that I got from Jonald Reyes,
who did the documentary "That
Asian Thing" (also playing down at CFAFF).

The Chicago Filipino American Film Festival's 5th Annual event is around
the corner!

WHEN: November 7th to 9th, 2008
WHERE: Portage
Theater - 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60641

Please mark your
calendars and continue to check the website for further information.

This year's Film
Festival line-up is as follows:

Friday

6:30 pm -
CFAFF 5th Anniversary Reception (Open to Public)
8:00 pm - Opening Night
Presentation SANTA MESA
10:30 pm - Music video awards, with performances by
BAGWIS and Paolo Escobar & the
Prescription

Saturday

1:00 pm - THAT ASIAN THING
(documentary, with panel discussion)
3:30 pm - SANTA MESA
6:00 pm -
FLOAT
8:30 pm - BROWN SOUP THING

Sunday

1:00
pm - JACK en JILL (Dolphy's 1954 classic)
4:00 pm - Short film
program
7:00 pm - NEO LOUNGE (2008 CineManila award-winning
documentary)

Also -- for a limited time -- thanks to generous sponsors,
CFAFF will be providing FREE day passes for Students & Seniors. Check the
website to reserve.

Tell
all your friends to join us in this great event! Thank you and hope to see many
of you there!

Get on out and support some of your Filipino American filmmakers.

Boston Asian American Film Festival

Slanty - October 18, 2008

BostonAsianAmericanFilmFestival.jpg

If you're out in Boston (or just feel like heading on out for some good flicks) make sure to check out the Boston Asian American Film Festival which starts today and runs through the 26th of October.

The festival is going to be showing 20+ films including features like "Kissing Cousins" and "West 32nd" as well as shorts like "Laundromat" and "Manoj".

For more information on the films and venues check out the BAAFF site.

Eastwood, Gran Torino and Hmong America

Slanty - October 6, 2008

Film_Gran_Torino.jpg
Whitney Her (Sue) and Doua Moua (Spider) on Gran Torino's set (eastwoodmovie-hmong.com)

So AsianWeek has a
really good and in-depth article on the new Eastwood film "Gran
Torino," spotlighting the fact that there will be a huge Hmong American cast
but also making sure to point out that not everyone is so keen on the idea, some
waiting to see if the film will either help to break stereotypes or rather put
more force behind them:

Random News From Around The Way

Slanty - September 24, 2008

Here's a quick recap of some of the headlines and happenings from the blogosphere and around the way that hopefully won't put you to sleep -- although I can't really promise anything, so if you do end up falling asleep, just remember that technically I never said this would actually be interesting -- just informative.

iaTV Cuts 80% Of Its Staff

Media, KoreAm Journal, And The Death Of Print?

Slanty - September 5, 2008

Some more thoughts on KoreAm and the original momo post.

Don't get me wrong about the headline -- print will definitely always be
alive in some form or another; print has always been a source of great news,
stories, narratives, photo spreads; and there's just something inherently nice
about reaching out and actually touching a magazine or newspaper at times -- but
the current campaign which you've
been hearing a lot about to save KoreAm Journal does beg the question of
whether or not a niche magazine can survive in the long run given that its
direct and indirect competition is online, where the environment and news isn't
just publishing once or twice a week (or month, or every two months), but every
day, every few hours, and in some cases, almost every minute.

A Random Conversation with Myself on the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Slanty - August 18, 2008

BK Me: So what do we think about the Olympics so far? They've been pretty good
huh?

Me: I don't know. The games are kind of becoming this platform for
Asian bashing and I can't help but get a little turned off by it all.

BK
Me: Hmm...to be honest I just thought you'd agree with me and we could go get
some food. I didn't actually think this would turn into a
conversation.

Me: Didn't you just eat?

BK Me: Like two hours ago.

And for Your Viewing Pleasure

Slanty - July 31, 2008

When I was tripping through Southeast Asia a few months ago, I had this song pretty much on repeat the whole time, so it's cool to see the Chinese American produced Shanghai Restoration come out with a video for the song.

Check out the video for "Miss Shanghai" below.



Here are the notes on the video from the YouTube page

Miss Shanghai feat. DEZ (vocals)

by The Shanghai Restoration Project

NOTE: Vocals are actually performed by Dutch artist DEZ (www.dezibelle.com). The model Masson Ge (www.massonge.com) is singing along with the voice.

To purchase this song on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...



Song written by Dave Liang & Dez

Music produced by Dave Liang

Video produced by Mark E. Lee Productions

Cinematography by Aasulv Wolf Austad

Edited by Szu-Hua Wang

Makeup by Kiki Lu

Featuring the designs of Lu Kun as worn by Masson Ge

Filmed at Lu Kun Couture studios in Shanghai, China

Special thanks to Lu Kun's manager Ramon Gil (lukunfashion [at] yahoo.com)

Made possible by Warner Music's Independent Label Group

72 Hour Film Shootout follow up: Better late than never

Slanty - July 28, 2008

O.K. -- So I know the winners were announced two weeks ago, but I just caught all of them from the website a little bit ago, and after watching them once online, downloading them and taking them to a coffee shop and watching them again a day later, and then burning them to a DVD and watching them again a day after that -- I figured I had to make a post on my favorites and give out some special awards of my own because viewing them all was something I really enjoyed -- and hey -- I'm still within a decent amount of time from when the shootout actually ended and I figure they should endure longer than a film festival because there was a lot of Asian American sweat put into them -- right?

Get your play on: A-Squared Theatre Workshop and The Wind Cries Mary

Slanty - July 25, 2008

WindCriesMaryposter.jpg

So I got word of this from musician Dawen Wang via Chicago about a new
play being put on by A-Squared Theatre
Workshop called "The Wind Cries Mary" -- and it sounds like it's going to be
pretty interesting. The show will be running next month August 1-24 down at City
Lit Theatre.

Amy Winehouse and her new racist song

Slanty - June 8, 2008

I really did like Amy Winehouse. I fell in love with her live performance of "Back To Black" at 2007's SXSW so much that I had to convert the video and put it onto my phone, and then searched out her music to find other videos so that I could add them to my DVD compilations.

Too bad I didn't know then she was a closet racist, because it would have saved me the time that I now have to put in burning every compilation I have with her videos on it.

Geraldine, The Race Card, and Clueless White People

Slanty - June 3, 2008

While I can't discount some of what Geraldine Ferraro had to say in her recent
Boston Op-Ed concerning aspects of sexism in the current
Democratic Primary -- because all you have to do is look at every president
we've ever had in our history, as well as the candidates who've run, to know
that sex has mattered and continues to matter in who as nation we elect -- I
just can't believe she's talking about race and racism again after she went
completely batshit in March and then got her ass canned from the Clinton
campaign.

Jessica Alba, kevjumba, Baron Davis, The Stare, and the New and Improved Wing Luke Asian Museum

Slanty - May 19, 2008

If you have nothing better to do (like yours truly), you might as well check out one of the latest ibeatYou contests happening called The Stare, which was originally started by Baron Davis who called out kevjumba, who then called out Jessica Alba.

Diana Nguyen, Declare Yourself, and Getting Out The Vote

Slanty - May 14, 2008
In addition to being part of the DISGRASIAN duo, Diana Nguyen also works with the political organization Declare Yourself. I sent over some questions her way about how she got involved, what they're doing, and being Asian American and having a voice in the political process. Here's what she had to say.
 

Blogging from Slantyville

Slanty - May 12, 2008
The first post. It has such a nice ring to it doesn't it?

It probably even sounds better in another language.

La primera entrada de blog.

Definitely like that.

Who knows, maybe after this I'll start posting in Spanish (even though I only know survival Spanish and phrases like "Sabado Gigante!"). Maybe I'll throw in a little ad hoc Cantonese and Vietnamese too (although I need to learn those languages first).

Really -- anything to make me sound semi-coherent, which only begs the question of what the hell I'm even talking about -- and to be honest, I don't even know.