8 Asians

As someone who grew up in the U.S., I never really got the Disney bug as a child. Maybe it’s because I grew up in New York, far away from either Disneyland and Disneyworld. My first experience with Disneyland wasn’t until I was in college and visiting an aunt and uncle in Los Angeles. There also wasn’t much to pick from in animated Disney films as I was growing up. Fast forward, and today, thanks to having a 4 year old daughter, I’m in over my head in Disney paraphernalia. I can tell you the name of every Disney Princess, including the one who’s going to be introduced this December.

We’ve spoiled our daughter and taken her to Disneyland for her birthday each year, so we’ve gotten pretty familiar with the theme park. In addition my company has even held an event in EuroDisney, which I got to attend. What I didn’t realize until reading about the latest Disneyland planned for Shanghai, is that there’s already one in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

The park in Shanghai has been in planning for the last 20 years, and finally won approval this month. It’s estimated it will be completed in 5 to 6 years and be a little larger in size than the current Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. Disney hopes this theme park will create the kind of marketing engine that the other Disney parks have, encouraging families to buy into the paraphernalia the way my family has.

In part, the promotion of Disney within my own family has been largely my fault, as I was looking for role models for my daughter, and thought Mulan, with all its flawed images of Chinese culture, was at least a good independent Asian female role model, and not the helpless princesses of other Disney classics. Unfortunately, my daughter never took to Mulan and instead favors Snow White, who relies on others to save her. Disney to their credit did also produce an American Native Princess, Pocahontas, and East Indian Princess, Jasmine. And finally this Christmas season, the African American Princess, Tiana. My daughter can’t wait to go see this latest movie, so I think I’ll refrain from letting her know there’s another Disneyland she can visit until she’s a little older.

In modern pop culture, the Three Kingdoms period of China is kinda like the Medieval period to Americans — dramatic war stories full of people performing acts of valor and glory that have been dead of hundreds of years — except, you know, that shit was real. (Okay, King Arthur may be real, but the whole slaying flying dragons thing? Come on, now.) Which is probably why Red Cliff, the epic four-hour movie based on the Three Kingdoms period that was directed by John Woo last year smashed box office records in China previously owned by Titanic.

Now an abridged, westernized version Red Cliff is coming to America and if you live in the Southern California area, you’re in luck — you can watch a free screening in Los Angeles at the DGA. But here’s the catch — the free screening, especially geared towards 8Asians readers, is Wednesday night. Yep, tomorrow. To RSVP, YOU MUST send an email with the subject line “RED CLIFF RSVP – AAAN” to redcliffRSVP@gmail.com where you will receive further instructions. Priority will be given to registered people, but that does not guarantee a seat, so we recommend you arrive at least 30 minutes before the special 7pm screening time. And use the bathroom beforehand — this may be the abridged version, but with a 140-minute screening time, you’ll not want to miss any of the action.

I try not to take for granted the vast number of cool events that happen in Los Angeles. I know that a screening of an almost 60 year-old Japanese movie doesn’t sound like the sort of thing that you can only find in L.A., but it is! The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is presenting a stunning new restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s classic Rashomon, taken from a 35mm print created in 1962 from the original camera negative.

The truth of the matter is that because the heart of the film industry is here in Los Angeles, so is the heart of film restoration efforts. Film restoration is extremely tedious and costly, and many of our film treasures are being lost at a rapid rate. Because are we lucky enough to be in a city where much of the restoration is done, occasionally beautifully restored films are publicly screened here!

In this case, we’ll get to see the groundbreaking Kurosawa masterpiece Rashomon, starring Toshiro Mifune in the role that catapulted him to stardom. The film depicts the rape of a woman and the apparent murder of her husband through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses, including the rapist and the dead man (through a medium). The stories are mutually contradictory, leaving the viewer to determine which, if any, is the truth. Rashomon has become synonymous with the unknowability of truth, and spawned the term the “Rashomon Effect.” regarding the subjectivity of perception on recollection.

Regarding this particular restoration:

While the [35mm print from 1962] print itself was in good physical condition, the source material from which it was made was extremely battered. Due to the extensive printing and handling it had received over its lifetime, many shots were already starting to shrink and warp, and there were numerous scratches, dust, and dirt in the damaged negative. Scanned at 4k resolution, that 47-year-old print has been meticulously cleaned both digitally and by hand, complete with a new, seamless soundtrack. This essential restoration has been made possible by the Academy Film Archive, the National Film Center of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kadokawa Pictures, Inc., with funding provided by Kadokawa Cultural Promotion Foundation and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation.

Rashomon opens Friday, October 2, 2009 at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, showing through Thursday, October 8 for an exclusive one-week engagement. Showtimes: Fri-Sun at 12:00, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30 & 10:00; Mon-Thu at 5:00, 7:30 & 10:00. Landmark’s Nuart Theatre is at 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of the 405 Freeway, in West Los Angeles. Program information: 310-281-8223; www.landmarktheatres.com

The second annual ID Film Festival, dedicated to contemporary digital films that explore and celebrate identity within the diverse Asian/Pacific Islander community, will present an international and local lineup of films this coming week/end, October 1-3 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

The festival will premiere several Hong Kong films, in addition to showcasing Asian American films from the “Class of 1997″: Michael Aki and Eric Nakamura’s Sunsets, Rea Tajiri’s Strawberry Fields, Chris Chan Lee’s Yellow, Quentin Lee and Justin Lin’s Shopping For Fangs — all groundbreaking works in Asian American cinema.

But what excites me is the really special round table taking place on closing night (Saturday, October 3, 2009) with Michael Aki, Chris Chan Lee, Quentin Lee, Justin Lin, Eric Nakamura and Rea Tajiri at 9:30PM after the free 8PM screening of Shopping For Fangs. The round table will be moderated by Giant Robot’s Martin Wong. (The round table is sponsored by Giant Robot and You Offend Me You Offend My Family.) And if that weren’t enough, there’s a free afterparty with sake provided by Sho Chiku Bai.

But don’t wait ’til closing night to check things out! There’s a bunch of other cool stuff during the film festival, so take a look at their entire schedule online and find out how to order tickets in advance.

Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Thai: องค์บาก), also known in the United States as “Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior” was a Thai action film from 2003 that was considered the breakout film of Tony Jaa. Because of Ong-Bak, Jaa was hailed as the next international martial-arts star.

Now Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning is here today on VOD, Amazon and XBOX Marketplace. Jaa stars in and directs this epic tale of revenge set hundreds of years in the past. Featuring a huge cast and hordes of elephants, this film takes Jaa’s skills to the next level, showcasing him as a master of a wide range of martial arts styles.

What? The past? Well, Ong-Bak 2 is not a sequel, but a prequel to its predecessor, which sounds kind of confusing, right? Well, no need to be confused!

Why not get a Tony Jaa refresher course by watching the Ong Bak DVD, which you can win right here on 8Asians! And, if that weren’t enough, we’re also going to throw in a DVD of 2008 Thai action film Chocolate (Thai: ช็อคโกแลต), also known as Fury! (Chocolate was directed by Prachya Pinkaew and has martial arts choreography by Panna Rittikrai, the same pair who directed Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak.)

If you love martial arts and action films, you need to check these movies out! Ong-Bak 2 is available now on VOD, Amazon and XBOX Marketplace and the film will be in theaters Oct 23.

What you could win from 8Asians: 2 DVDs: Ong-Bak + Chocolate!

How do you enter?
Simply leave a short comment stating why you want to be chosen as the winner for the DVDs. (Be sure to use the email address you’d like to be contacted at if you’re the winner.)

Hurry, the deadline to enter is: Wednesday, September 30 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time)
FIVE lucky winners will be randomly selected and contacted on Thursday morning.

Rules for entering:
1) Please be in the US or Canada. Sorry, I will not be shipping anywhere else!
2) Contributors to 8Asians and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.

Prize courtesy of: 8Asians.

“Don’t worry, Shimada.  I’m not taking you to Manzanar!”

This just one of the many gems of dialogue contained in the movie Megashark vs Giant Octopus.  I recently saw it on the Syfy Channel, and with a title like that, you may wonder what the heck this has to do with Asian Americans, sex with a white pop star, and a line about Japanese internment.  Megashark vs Giant Octopus is a wonderfully bad movie – bad enough to be worth seeing.  The trailer generated its own viral buzz when it was released, and the version on YouTube has more than 1.5 million views.

Anyway, let’s talk about the movie. (Warning:  spoilers ahead after the jump!)

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In Los Angeles at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, over a thousand Asian Americans spent their Labor Day rocking out at the International Secret Agents concert. Produced by the hip hop group Far*East Movement and Wong Fu Productions, the concert featured a variety of talent including the dance group Quest Crew, YouTube personality KevJumba and musicians David Choi and Kina Grannis.

Far*East Movement (FM) had the most spectacular performance with strobe lights, colored panels, and fog. Kev Nish said before the show, “we’re taking the secret agents to the moon, past the moon, up to Mars, past Neptune to a different galaxy.” Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and DJ Virman wore silver jackets and space helmets. FM experienced their first success with the song “Round Round” in the movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. They performed a few songs from their most recent album Animal and for the finale to the night got all the featured artists on the stage with them for their latest hit “Girls on the Dance Floor.”

The audience spontaneously rose to their feet when Quest Crew came on. This group of breakdancers won MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (third season). Previously, member Ryan Conferido won lots of hearts on the first season of So You Think You Can Dance but got shafted from the title; Hok Konishi and D-Trix Sandoval were on the show in subsequent seasons. The energy in the auditorium surged and some stood on their chairs to see the breakdancers debut a new freestyle set developed just for the show. As a returning performer from the first ISA concert last year, Hok said he was excited “to see the faces that we saw last year and see them succeed at what they do. It’s really meeting friends and sharing the arts that we do.”

Lydia Paek from Quest Crew and Tom Ngo hosted the concert. Because the audience was a high school and college aged crowd, they talked about going back to school and their music and art classes. Tom Ngo played good sport to ongoing dialogue about whether he could ask out Kina Grannis. The skit had echoes of the short film “Yellow Fever” that Wong Fu Productions made in when they were at UCSD. It seems the guy is still figuring out how to get the girl.

Since “Yellow Fever,” Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang of Wong Fu have made more films and online content, stayed busy with speaking engagements at colleges, and were recently featured on CNN. Said Philip Wang, “the hardest part was putting on the show last year. We were doing it all by ourselves with our own money and it was just FM. Then we had another show in San Francisco that was sold out, and now we’ve come back here, the ISA name is bigger now, the fans are more excited and this was a little easier.” They continue to strengthen the ISA brand and the other facets of their media company.

(Video credit: Pacific Rim Video)