It’s simple, a guy buys fries and pours some water to a homeless woman in China. He becomes a viral hit. Great name, nice deed, and it’s just a shred of happy news. (CNN – American French Fry Brother)
Masi Oka is making games. The ex coder from ILM and now star of Hawaii 5-0 will be making some games. Ironically, the article doesn’t really talk about his own games at all, but he does talk about his experience in games. Maybe that’s just the best way to go. (Gamelivetv – Masi Oka)
Dorky and fun, the Chen Guangcheng look is now viral. There’s plenty of funny version of Chen quick viral images including Shawshank and the Colonel Sanders look. It’s not that exciting, but it’s odd that a man from obscurity just a month ago is now a sensation. (VOA - Chen Guangchen)
Aaron Brown, Albert Reyes, Alex Chiu, Ana Serrano, Andrice Arp, Aska Iida, Bradford Lynn, Brian Luong, Bryan Wong, Bubi Au Yeung, Cam Floyd, Carlos Donjuan, Christopher Chan, Cory Schmitz, David Horvath, Devin McGrath, Elizabeth Ito, Elliot Brown, Eric Broers, Erin Althea, Gabe Gonzales, Gary Musgrave, Grant Reynolds, Heidi Woan, James Chong, James Kochalka, Jarrett Quon, Jay Horinouchi, Jeni Yang, Jeremiah La Torre, Jeremy Tinder, Jeremyville, Jeromy Velasco, Jesse Balmer, Jesse Fillingham, Jesse LeDoux, Jesse Moynihan, Jesse Reklaw, Jesse Tise, Jiyoung Moon, John Lau, Kerry Horvath, Kevin Luong, Kio Griffith, Kwanchai Moriya, Lawrence Yang, Linda Kim, Louise Chen, Luke Chueh, Luke Rook, Maiko Kanno, Mare Odomo, Mari Inukai, Mark Ingram, Martin Hsu, Matt Furie, Meatbun, Miso, Nick Arciaga, Patrick Kyle, Peter Kato, Philip Koscak, Renee French, Sana Park, Sara Saedi, Sarah Lee, Sean Chao, Shawn Cheng, Shiho Nakaza, Shihori Nakayama, Sidney Pink, Silvio Porretta, Stasia Burrington, Stephanie Kubo, Theo Ellsworth, Tru Nguyen, Yejin Oh, Yoskay Yamamoto, Yumi Sakugawa and more.
Taiwan-based EVA Air and toymaker Sanrio have joined paws and sent an adorable fleet of three Hello Kitty-themed Airbus 330-300s to do battle against their many competitors in the short-route airline wars in East Asia, flying routes between cities such as Taipei, Fukuoka, Tokyo (Narita), Sapporo, Incheon, Hong Kong and Guam. EVA spokespersons were quick, however, to quell rumors that pilots of these aircraft would be dressed as Pikachu. (BuzzFeed ~ Thank You for Choosing Hello Kitty Airlines)
One of the more famous actors in China isn’t someone you’ve seen in the US or Europe. It’s Cao Cao or Jonathan Kos-Read who’s played in 100 movies playing the non-Chinese person. He’s fluent and began his career there in 1997. Now with the new relationships with the rest of the world, his characters are becoming more dynamic. He’s seldom the lead actor, but it could happen, unless Hollywood kills his career by drowning China with the likes of a dubbed Christian Bale… (China Daily – Cao Cao)
ounds aweful
They can’t sell US cars in Japan, but the bikes are working. Because most can’t buy US made cars in Japan an easily, especially ones with larger size and price tags, a bike will suit just fine. A Hummer is a great example. On what road will a Hummer actually drive correctly in Japan? None, but a bike, sure why not? In a place where tons of bikes look exactly the same, getting a US made bike will actually stand out and be cool. (WSJ – Bikes)
Otomo Katsuhiro‘s movie, Akira, was my gateway to anime as a teen. Due to this, I was giddier than a kid on a sugar rush when the day came to visit his latest exhibition at the 3331 Chiyoda Arts gallery in Akihabara. Most of the tickets were already sold out because it was the beginning of Golden Week when I attempted purchase passes from the nearest kiosk at Lawson’s. Fortunately, I managed to buy tickets during the latest time slot before the museum closed. The date was set.
My friend and I arrived at the gallery an hour before our time slot. A small park was neighbored its entrance and Chiyoda Arts was apparently a Junior High School before it was renovated into what you see now. We lined up and entered the gallery shortly after our appointed time slot ticked into place.
The exhibit itself was a brightly lit chamber painted with white with music from composer Haishima Kuniaki‘s album, Καρδια, playing eerily in the background. Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed so we couldn’t take any pictures until the “Motorcycle Display.” A few foreign visitors stood out amidst the crowd who undoubtedly were introduced to the medium through Otomo’s work like myself. Sketches and paintings from Otomo-san’s art book, Kaba and Kaba2, were on display and unlike his films, a majority of the pieces featured from Kaba and Kaba2 were lightheartedly strange and semi-cutesey depictions of animals. Others were of sketches from mangas penned by him that I haven’t even heard of up until today. It was different from the Otomo-san that I knew.
Of course, drawing, sketches, and paintings from his landmark films: Memories, Steamboy, Akira, and many others. I can’t say for certain because fine arts (as a profession) isn’t my forte, but on closer inspection, a good deal of them appeared to use water color as a medium. It was impressive to see how much detail that he invested into the pieces crafted by his own hands. Print media barely did the originals any justice.
Next was the exhibit room with the original panels for the Akira manga in all their totality. Yup. Every panel from all 6 volumes was on display in their unvarnished splendor. The number of pages for each book was so immense that they had to stack them row upon row on “shelf wires” suspended through the display case for visitors to see.
The room after that was arguably the main event. For a donation of 500 yen, visitors had an opportunity to don a replica of Kaneda’s jacket from the manga and sit inside a reconstruction of his motorcycle with pages of the manga garnishing its display. A crater rendering a scene from one of his mangas adorned the back of the room. In addition to that, graffiti drawing from visitors plastered a section of the wall in tribute to the event. It was the only part of the exhibit where visitors were allowed to take photos.
At the end of the exhibit, visitors were allowed to slip their ticket stubs into a slot to determine where proceeds from their purchase went towards the Tohoku recovery. A small gift shop for the exhibit stood near the exit where you could buy posters, postcards, the soundtrack for the exhibit, an art catalogue for the exhibit, and other Otomo related paraphernalia. All in all, it was a delightful experience and briefly brought the child in me back to life. If you’re living in Tokyo this is a must see and would be crime against pop culture for any fan to miss.
Paul Kitagaki Jr, photographer unearthed some Dorothea Lange photos from the Internment experience and coupled them with some more recent photos and stories that are now hanging at the San Bruno Bart station which is where Tanforan Race Track, an assembly center for Japanese American was located and 70 years ago. A great concept, history, and the station will probably get more visitors than a gallery show. Take a look at the photos and read the stories. They never get old. SF Gate.
LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL
MAY 10 – MAY 20, 2012
Surrogate Valentine: 5/12; Surrogate Valentine 2: 5/12, 5/13; Tormented:5/12; Dragon: 5/14
GRFREE50 – take advantage of it for your shopping needs.
Maurice Sendak may have just passed away, but he won’t be forgotten any time soon since his work lives in a generation of kids. Spike Jonze is one of them and his documentary Tell Them Anything You Want – a Portrait of Maurice Sendak is now for free on Hulu. Watch it today.
It’s like a scene from the movie, Children of Men but in Japan. In a 1000 years, children are running on empty, there’s very few born. Studies by academics from Sendai say:
“Japanese researchers have now warned of a doomsday scenario if it carries on this way with the last child to be born there in 3011 and the Japanese people potentially disappearing a few generations later.”
There’s plenty of reasons, from costs and perhaps changing priorities. (MSNBC – Japan Kids)
