This year, SXSW (a.k.a. South by Southwest) film festival has a very hearty helping of Asian-ness — and I’LL BE THERE! YAY!

Sure, the music and interactive portions of the popular festival are big draws, but when it comes to the film festival, I am totally all over it.

This year they will be featuring big time movies like the Jonah Hill/Channing Tatum comedy romp 21 Jump Street and Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods — but the selection of Asian-centric films are in abundance. From Indonesian forest-based thrillers to Olivia Munn trying to get preggers, here’s a list of them in no particular order.

The Babymakers (World Premiere): Olivia Munn and Paul Schneider star as a couple who can’t get pregnant so they rob a sperm back — but things go awry and hilarity ensues. Director: Jay Chandrasekhar, Screenwriters: Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow. Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon.

Seeking Asian Female (World Premiere): This is just your standard documentary of a man with “yellow fever” and his attempt to make a marriage work with a Chinese woman half his age that he meets online. Director: Debbie Lum. Check out the film’s website.

Modus Anomali (World Premiere): The Indonesian-based thriller about a man who loses his family during a vacation and his bloody quest to save them. Director/Screenwriter: Joko Anwar. Cast: Rio Dewanto, Hannah Al Rashid, Izziati Amara Isman, Aridh Tritama, Surya Saputra, Marsha Timothy, Sadha Triyudha, Jose Gamo. Watch the trailer here.

Eden (World Premiere): Jamie Chung stars alongside Beau Bridges in this film about a Korean-American girl who is forced into human trafficking. Sounds fun, right?! Director: Megan Griffiths, Screenwriters: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim. Cast: Jamie Chung, Matt O’Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz

The Taiwan Oyster (World Premiere): Two Americans travel through Taiwanese countryside to bury a fellow countryman. It doesn’t exactly sound happy, but it sounds good, right? Director: Mark Jarrett. Screenwriters: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett. Cast: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim.

The Raid: This movie has been making it’s festival rounds and if you don’t know about it already, you should be ashamed of yourself. Director/Screenwriter: Gareth Huw Evans. Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno. Click here to read more at the director’s blog.

Girl Model (U.S. Premiere): A documentary about a group of young Russian girls who join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get introduced into another side of the fashion industry. I wonder if we can expect a lot of smizing. Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon. Check out the website.

Wildness: This documentary directed by Wu Tsang paints a “magical-realist portrait” of the Silver Platter, a historic Latin/LGBT bar in Los Angeles. Check out the trailer here.

Daylight Savings (World Premiere): Musician Goh Nakamura has a breakup and then goes on the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen. YAY! A road trip movie! Director: Dave Boyle. Screenwriters: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura. Cast: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani.

Bijuka (North American Premiere): The Indian movie (which translates into “Scarecrow), is inspired by true events and tells the story about a woman escaping an abusive arranged marriage. When I Googled the title, one of the results read, “Bijuka – Bollywood’s Longest Rape Scene”. Perhanps it’s the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo of India. Director: Ashtar Sayed. Screenwriter: Dr. Mahendra Purohit.

Last Call at the Oasis: Jessica Yu’s documentary about the global water crisis. The title alone makes me thirsty. Read more about it here.

John Dies At The End: The movie about a street drug called “soy sauce” — so that’s cool. And it is based on the book by David Wong — a pseudonym used by Jason Pargin. Director & Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli. Cast: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn Turman. Watch the trailer here.

Read the entire SXSW 2012 film lineup by clicking here.

With the advent of eBooks, I tried to resist, fancying myself like Yomiko Readman from the anime Read or Die, living in an abandoned office building filled to the brim with books, books, and more books. But the convenience of eBooks is too amazing to deny, having my entire library in the palm of my hand to access anytime, anywhere. And now that Viz Media has announced that they are publishing their major manga series on the Barnes & Noble Nook, I feel that my eBook experience has gotten another step closer to nirvana.

Out of the list of manga to be released, I’m especially excited about Naruto, Dragonball, and Rurouni Kenshin.

Of course, there have been a plethora of websites that have provided fan-translated unofficial versions of these manga, but there are a lot reasons why I’ve never liked using them and would prefer to have the Nook version instead. First, I can enjoy my manga reading without questionable looking ads to bother me. Second, I can have smooth page turning without having to wait for images to load. Third, I’m able to read without needing an internet connection. Fourth, the official translations will actually make sense and I will actually understand the stories I am reading. And finally, I don’t have to see those annoying fan added nicknacks and get confused what is the original material and what is just annoying. So thank you, Viz and Nook. Keep ‘em coming.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 12th to finish up their second season. That also means Glenn is back with even more baseball caps! Steven Yeun was on Attack of the Show yesterday to promote the new episodes, as well as share what it’s like being a huge celebrity in South Korea. Also, he shares stories about his Korean parents who were initially disappointed in his career choice (surprise) now expect him to overachieve as an actor as well. We know how he feels.

On Saturday, February 4th, 2012, Jennifer Yuh Nelson won the Annie Award for Best Director in a Feature Production with Kung Fu Panda 2. The Annie Award is basically the top award for animated films, and it’s not the only honor Nelson has attracted. She has won a previous Annie Award for story boarding for the first Kung Fu Panda film. Aside from being recognized as the top grossing female director ever with Kung Fu Panda 2 bringing in $659,239,572 worldwide and being the first woman to solely direct an animated film backed by a major Hollywood studio, Nelson’s film has also been nominated for an Academy Award in Best Animated Feature Film.

She’s packing so much awesome this year that it would make Barney Stinson cry (not that that’s hard to do). All that there’s left to say is, “You go, girl.”

It has been said that playing an instrument as a child is the greatest predictor of concert attendance as an adult. I can relate because I started taking piano lessons when I was eight and I continued learning for 10 years. I took piano exams through the Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music almost every year and I was one exam away from obtaining my Diploma in Instrumental Teaching. I also performed in many recitals as a kid. Unlike many Asian kids who were forced to learn an instrument, I actually suggested to my parents I wanted to learn how to play the piano. To be honest, playing the piano was fun at first, but it got to the point where it felt like I was only learning to pass the exams and not for enjoyment. Nowadays, I still listen to Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, etc. and occasionally attend orchestral concerts.

It is a little ironic how many Asian parents force their children to learn an instrument as a child but not let them pursue music as a career. Learning an instrument is just another extracurricular activity to make one stand out from one’s classmates when it is time to apply for college. In many Asian countries, being competent in an instrument is a marker for success. Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, talks about her threatening her daughter during piano practice: “If the next time’s not perfect, I’m going to take all your stuffed animals and burn them!”

Although most Asian Americans do not choose music as their career, many top orchestras today such as the New York Philharmonic are made up of 20% of Asian Americans. Even though more and more Asian Americans are deciding to pursue a career in music and even learning an instrument, the financial state of orchestras is declining. In 2008, less than 10% of adults in the United States said they attended an orchestra. Every year, orchestras are praying that at least some people will still continue to go to orchestra symphonies. Even though ticket sales are dropping, there is one group that still likes classical music and even pay to go to orchestras—Asians. In Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan, classical music is still an aspirational totem. It is kind of funny how traditional Western music is most kept alive in Eastern countries today. The only people left keeping classical music alive are Asian Americans and older adults. Eventually if classical music does die off in Western countries, it might be still be kept alive in parts of Asia.

[Photo Credit: renochamberochestra.org]

And for your musical interlude of the day, we bring you a group of accordion players from North Korea’s Kum Song School performing the 80′s hit, “Take On Me” by a-ha. (In case you were wondering, they’re still sobbing over the death of Kim Jong-Il on the inside.)

(Also, I didn’t know they listened to a-ha in North Korea. Did you?)

(And they have accordions there, too? Crazy.)

It seems like the new Super Bowl tradition of late is airing commercials which are racist, offensive, or at least racially insensitive toward Asians. In 2008, it was a set of offensive SalesGenie.com ads (written by an Asian, no less). 2010 gave us the Doritos Samurai Guy (who didn’t know the ways of the Samurai). Last year, Timothy Hutton using the plight of Tibet as a punchline for Groupon’s deals on fish curry, not even a dish that Tibetans are known for.

So what fun anti-Asian ads aired during the 2012 Super Bowl? Seeing as it’s an election year, a political ad is making waves: Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra aired an ad accusing the policies of incumbent Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow (or Debbie “SpendItNow” as seen in the ad) as being helpful to China, to the detriment of the United States.

From 8Asians reader Peter L:

If you haven’t seen it already, this advertisement went up during the super bowl in place of a local ad spot. It accuses a political opponent of giving political power to Asian countries in a way that marginalizes Asians as a whole… I’m sort of wondering what that chick was thinking when she signed-up to be in this ad. Her way of speaking sounds like she’s a fluent American English speaker, but mid-way through her schtick it looks like she remembers she’s supposed to sound like a stereotypical fob with missing prepositions. Maybe she liked the size of the cheque.

Luckily, this spot did not air nationwide. But thanks to the power of social media, it is being widely shared and condemned– including by a coalition of black ministers, civil rights folks, and even GOP advisers.

Hoekstra’s campaign says that the ad is “satirical,” but I’d argue that there needs to be a bit of wit behind it if you call it satire.