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CinemAmore | AAIFF Speed Dating Fundraiser

Meeting new people can make anyone a little nervous. Asian CineVision is here to help! We're launching the 33rd Asian American International Film Festival and your new romance all in one event. Up for speed dating? Here is your chance to enjoy the happy hour specials at Forbidden City, meet your cinema soulmate (or a really good movie buddy) and win festival tickets for that first real date.

If you happen to be a pair of film aficionados, then the sparks of romance will already be flying. Register if you're seeking a fling with the ultimate lovers: film and culture.

Pre-registration is required. Limited spaces available.

Sign up today! http://aaiff.wufoo.com/forms/cinemamore-aaiff-speed-dating-fundraiser/

Outrage in China over Sydney Train assault

A terrifying gang assault on Sydney train passengers has left two international students seriously injured and caused a media storm in China.

The alleged robbery, including racist taunts, drew a social media pledge from former foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd and led to emergency talks at Sydney's Chinese consulate general.

Police said six people, aged 14 to 18, robbed passengers on a train between Central and Rockdale about 12.30am yesterday

Officers were called to Rockdale station about 15 minutes later, where they arrested three men, two aged 18 and one 19, a 14-year-old boy and two girls, aged 16 and 17.

They were all charged with a number of robbery and assault offences.

Yesterday's attack came just days after two safety warnings from the Chinese embassy in Canberra for citizens travelling in Australia. Many Chinese students studying in Australia have expressed their fear over growing violence directed against them.

China gives Hollywood more opportunities

Disney's announcement on Monday that it will make Iron Man 3 in partnership with a Chinese company is the latest sign that movie studios are warming to China's new openness.

For decades, China has capped the number of foreign films it allows into the country. Until recently, the limit was 20, but in February Chinese officials announced that they are increasing the quota to 34.

China said it will also allow foreign studios to garner a greater share of box office revenue. Foreign companies can now expect to earn 25 percent of their movies' ticket sales in China, up from between 13.5 and 17.5 percent.

The changes are a significant move for a bureaucracy that is leery of outside cultural influences and competition from foreign films. The change could affect everyone from action movie fans in Guangzhou to Hollywood's most powerful filmmakers.

The relaxing of China's strict rules comes at a price for US studios. The world's most populous nation wants foreign studios to bring their movie making know-how to China by forming joint ventures with Chinese studios.

Slain USC students' path a familiar one to school's Chinese

Last year, Ming Qu and Ying Wu set off on a well-trod path for success-seeking Chinese. They left their native country, enrolled at a prestigious American university and plowed toward degrees that could ensure them respect — and a better future — when they returned home.

The USC graduate students, focused intently on their electrical engineering program, hunkered down in a neighborhood just west of campus. It was quieter, a better atmosphere for studying, residents said. But it was also widely considered less safe.

That's where, in Wednesday's wee hours, Qu and Wu's immigrant tale ended tragically: with the students shot to death, a gunman on the lam and the university's Chinese community in mourning.

Chinese students comprise about one-third of USC's 7,200 international students, a number that has risen in recent years as the college wooed scholars from abroad. So many Chinese residents have flocked to U.S. colleges in recent years that the deaths of Qu and Wu made headlines in Beijing.

Susan Tran, WHDH-7News Reporter, Keynote Speaker at AsianBoston Networking Event (ABNE-V)!

Asian | Boston Media Group (ABMG) is proud to announce the 5th Asian|Boston Networking Event, the ABNE-V.

At this event, they will unveiling the first annual 'ABMG Awards.' This program was established to recognize Asian Americans, who reside and contribute to New England and New York, via excellence in their respective fields of media, high-technology, medicine, education, etc.

ABMG's inaugural award will be in the media division, and will be presented during the event. It's an honor to announce that the recipient of the first annual ABMG's 'Distinguished Asian-American in Media' award is...

WHDH-TV's 7News Reporter, Susan Tran.

The ABNE-V and ABMG Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 26th, at Hei La Moon Restaurant in Chinatown. Time: 6:30pm-9:30pm. Interested in being a Presenter at the ABNE-V? 'Presenters' are individuals or businesses that do short 3-minute promotions for their particular cause, ideas, new business ventures, etc.

(Please see below for guest ticket info and how to become a 'Presenter')

Milk The Linsanity For All Its Worth

Milk The Linsanity For All Its Worth

The Asian Alpha Male : Dating Coach

March 05, 2012

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LOST YEARS: A People's Struggle for Justice - Best Documentary (History & Culture) Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, Dec 5, 2011

LOST YEARS is an epic documentary mini-series touching on the largest exodus in humankind, covering over 150 years of history of the Chinese in Canada and abroad.

An epoch that delivers an important message, namely, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." (Spanish philosopher, George Santayana (1863-1952), in Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason.)

We witness how man's inhumanity to man continually plays out in world history and affairs, in part through the advances of new media and the vastness of our global village.

The journey in Lost Years begins in old China in 1910 and concludes with the movement to embrace redress as a concept of social justice in the modern world of Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, exactly one century later.

Upcoming Community/Non-Profit Screenings

CBC TV National Telecast (PREMIERE)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012
Episode 1 (of 2) - The Loh Wah Kiu - Absolutely Canadian

Patrick Chan’s ‘not appreciated’ foot-in-mouth not PC, but he’s partly right

VANCOUVER — We are nearly two years into the home Olympic hangover, and Patrick Chan needs a beer, tomato juice, raw egg, and some Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. Stir well, add salt and pepper to taste.

His headache — coinciding with the sobering realization that life as a non-hockey-playing Canadian Olympic athlete is almost literally 15 minutes of fame followed by the refrain from Peggy Lee's “Is That All There Is?” — has caused an even bigger one for Skate Canada as it hosts this week's ISU Grand Prix Final in Quebec City.

Chan, who happens to be one of Canadian sport's most spectacular athletes and engaging people, recently suffered an episode of foot-in-mouth (not his first, god bless him) that has all sorts of commentators parachuting into the sport of figure skating just long enough to snipe at him, and it.

Asian Americans most bullied in U.S. schools: study

Asian Americans endure far more bullying at US schools than members of other ethnic groups, with teenagers of the community three times as likely to face taunts on the Internet, new data shows.

Policymakers see a range of reasons for the harassment, including language barriers faced by some Asian American students and a spike in racial abuse following the September 11, 2001 attacks against children perceived as Muslim.

“This data is absolutely unacceptable and it must change. Our children have to be able to go to school free of fear,” US Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday during a forum at the Center for American Progress think-tank.

The research, to be released on Saturday, found that 54 percent of Asian American teenagers said they were bullied in the classroom, sharply above the 31.3 percent of whites who reported being picked on.

Announcing the Boston International Asian Choir and Orchestra: Open House and Audition

Click to enlargeBOSTON – Focal Chinese Music Corp. and Asian|Boston Media Group are joining forces to establish the Boston International Asian Choir and Orchestra (BIACO). This is the first such combination of a choir and orchestra featuring Asian singers and musicians from Boston and the surrounding areas.

“While there are many opportunities to attend personal music lessons, there are relatively few musical groups of an extended set-up that enable students to learn music and repertoire in a communal environment the same way they do at the individual level. BIACO is intended to be educational, where children, youths and adults rehearse with the purpose of knowing what choral and orchestral training is like, and what artistic excellence as a group should be,” says Jean Y. Foo, Founder and CEO of Focal Chinese Music. Ms. Foo will also assume the current role of Artistic Director of BIACO.

ANBM Press Coverage @ The 34th Asian American International Film Festival

A Glimpse of our ANBM Source Press going backstage at the AAIFF festival, they got to meet some of the Festival seeing and short film directors. Enjoying the event and working experience the lively atmosphere.

A Special thanks to Amy Guo and Shuchun and another unamed contributor for the fantastic media coverage on the event. Also a special thanks to Juliana Wang, the marketing manager for AAIFF looked after our crew.

Movies Reviewed: Love Comes, 72 Hour Shootout, A Day Less Ordinary, The Lulu Sessions, Saigon Electric, Quattro Hong Kong, Cuny Shorts, Never Stop Believing, Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and the Wedding Palace.

Photo by Amy Guo and Shuchun Wang.

Upcoming AAIFF Film Workshops & Community Screenings - Tickets Available

Workshops

Surviving the Independent films Landscape: A conversation with Mimi Taksue.
Museum of Chinese in America | August 14, 2011 | 5:00PM

Waiting for that call to get your dream project off the ground? Wondering how to continue to make film and maintain a sustainable lifestyle as an independent filmmaker? Emerging director Kimi Takesue is the recipient of numerous awards. Her commissioned works include WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? (Rotterdam International Film Festival) and THAT WHICH ONCE WAS (ITVS).

Kimi Takesue is the recipient of a 2005 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Filmmaking, as well as a 2005 New York Foundation for the Arts in Film. Her award-winning films E=NYC2, SUMMER OF THE SERPENT, HEAVEN'S CROSSROAD, ROSEWATER AND BOUND have been televised in the U.S. and screened at over 200 film festivals and museums.

Yao Ming retires, he's more than basketball.

As Yao makes exits from the American Basketball association, most of us would have already seen some of the 

signs surrounding his injuries, though most of us would have hoped he would return to see him take the Rockets to the finals.
It was unfortunately that he had to end his career and move on to something else. Nonetheless, he has already made history.  

"The NBA can survive without Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets can survive without Yao Ming, but we cannot survive without Yao Ming," read a comment on a Chinese Twitter-like tribute page that received 1.5 million entries within hours."

Asian Identity: To Be Or Not To Be

The Newsweek headline catches my eye: "Asian Identity Crisis, A young Asian American author defends his assimilation -- and draws fire from activists." Eric Liu's new book is something I will have to read, although I am not sure how much of it I will like.

In "The Accidental Asian: Notes from a Native Speaker," Liu takes readers on a journey through his life in a series of loosely connected essays. They run from remembrances about his youth and his late father, to explaining why he married a white woman, to his unabashed assimilation into the white world.

The Newsweek story already made me apprehensive about the book. Then, in the first few essays Liu talks about his "honorary white status." I cringe. He seems to have a naïve belief that race doesn't matter. But I read on.

Wang: 'Snow Flower' not a 'Joy Luck Club' rehash

Let me begin by firstly admit to my personal skepticism of any mainstream movie that attempts to portray Asian people positively, in particular Hollywood movies.

We are about to see an upcoming release titled 'Snow Flower', an adaptation to the original story. We have been informed that this is not a rehash of the old pain known as 'Joy Luck club', perhaps the Asian Americans may feel relieved.

However this has yet to be confirmed as the question still poses as to whether this movie be end up as another Hollywood-ized packaged disappointment for the Asian audience.

The big question, will this movie differ to it's evil predecessor 'Joy Luck Club' film, as we had already known to draw criticism from many Asian Americans, as a fabrication of Chinese culture to entertain the masses.

All thanks (but no thanks) to Tan and her "Joy Luck club" co-writers, our Asian American youths could only ever grow up misguided by false representations of identity.

Looking for a 'Hangover' cure

Jeff Yang writes another great article in contrast to the latest Asian stereotyped sellout piece 'Hangover 2' and in this article he touches on the economics of Asian Americans and their appraoch to the mainstream movie industry. The challenges are clearly there, no doubt Asian Americans are full of talent in the entertainment industry, we have notable directors, actors and actresses . Asian Americans are also more than capable of setting up their own alternative media sources but is that just enough?

KARIN WANG honored today as the 2011 Woman of the Year for the 49th Assembly District.

Karin Wang, the Vice-President of Programs & Communications at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), will be honored today as the 2011 Woman of the Year for the 49th Assembly District. 

APALC, a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization serving Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.  Before her current position, Wang directed APALC’s immigrant rights project and helped file a landmark civil rights complaint against Los Angeles County on behalf of limited English speaking welfare recipients, leading to major reforms to the department’s services to immigrants and payment of $1.7 million in back benefits.  Wang also ran the first Los Angeles field office of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, enforcing federal civil rights laws across the Southwest and the Pacific.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders now make up 15.5% of California's Population

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population in California grew significantly during the past decade, according to a preliminary analysis of newly released Census 2010 data conducted by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.

Remaining among the state’s fastest-growing communities, AAPIs grew from 4,321,585 in 2000 to 5,556,592 in 2010, representing 33.6% growth in the last decade.  In comparison, the state’s overall population grew from 33,871,648 in 2000 to 37,253,956 in 2010, representing 10.0% growth.

AAPIs now constitute 15.5% of the state’s population, compared to 12.8% in 2000.  “Policymakers, the new Citizens Redistricting Commission, and local redistricting bodies must be accountable to the needs of the state’s substantial Asian American and Pacific Islander population,” stated Stewart Kwoh, president and executive director of APALC.

Jeff Yang writes on "Is white the new black"?

As white Americans move into the minority, some are claiming they're the ones now subject to racial oppression. Do they have a case?

For a small, nerdy cluster of folk -- social science and cultural studies wonks, market researchers, armchair political pundits -- this month is the Super Bowl, Oscars and Olympics rolled into one. That's because the next few weeks will see the gradual, yet grand unveiling of data from the 2010 U.S. Census, an event literally 10 years in the making.

S. Korean protesters rally against US-ROK drills

The joint military, exercises between South Korea, and the US have entered their third day. The drills have brought protesters from both DPRK and South Korean pacifists.

South Korea and the US are continuing their joint annual drills, despite repeated warnings from the DPRK.

The 11-day exercises are code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle and feature some 200-thousand South Korean and nearly 13-thousand US troops taking part.

But many South Koreans disagree with their government. A group of peace protesters held a rally in front of the defense ministry, calling for government to stop causing more tension and to resolve issues on the peninsula through dialogue.

Kim Hwan-YOUNG, Peace Protest Leader, said, "The DPRK is reacting very sensitively over the campaign and it's understandable. The campaign shouldn't be staged unless we're at war."

Meanwhile, the DPRK has repeated its condemnation of the exercises. State media issued commentaries, saying both the North and the South should create an atmosphere of dialogue to try to build trust. However, South Korea and the US insist on holding the exercises, openly challenging the DPRK.

Eco Chef Bryan Au offers 'Raw Star' recipes in new book

Eco Chef Bryan Au has just released a new recipe book that will "rawck your world".

He also launched his much anticipated Eco Chef App available for the PC Computer, MAC Computer, iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTouch through iTunes and App Store last year.

The multi-talented entrepreneur, actor and activist recently answered a few questions about his latest book:

Tell us about your latest book Eco Bryan Au Raw Star Recipes: Organic Meals, Snacks & Desserts in 10 Minutes:

Decisions, Decisions: The Culture and Psychology of Choice

Q & A with Sandeep Roy.
Descartes famously said, “I think therefore I am.” But in America we might say instead, “I choose, therefore I am.” The holidays are all about choosing the right present. From a sandwich to Medicare Part D, we are forever trying to choose the right option. But in a country as diverse as America, does choice mean the same thing for everyone? Do Asian Americans choose the same way as Caucasians? Sheena Iyengar is a professor of business at Columbia University and the author of the book
The Art of Choosing. She spoke to Sandip Roy on the radio program New America Now.

You did an experiment in an elementary school in San Francisco of Asian-American children and Anglo-American children. What was the impetus of the study?

When I was Ph D student, I was studying Japanese. So I went to Japan for a couple of years. A strange thing happened to me on my first night. When I ordered this cup of green tea, the waiter brought it over and I asked for some sugar. The waiter said

Macleans Racism (Part III) - 'Too Asian?' and the Firestorm It's Fanning

Maclean's article sparked overdue rebellion against powerful voices claiming racial discrimination is not a problem

Maclean's magazine has struck a match. Now a firestorm of criticism is headed its way. Canada may never be the same.

On Nov. 25, Victoria city council unanimously adopted a motion, submitted by veteran councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe, criticizing Maclean's for their article 'Too Asian' in their widely read special university rankings feature edition (Nov. 2010). The motion, unanimously adopted, described the title of the Maclean's article as "offensive and intolerant" and criticized its contents for "propagating a litany of racial stereotypes."

I agree and Thornton-George and the council deserve credit for speaking out against a media giant. Their action demonstrates how far we have come from the bad old days.

Macleans Racism (Part II) - A letter to Maclean's calling for end to "anti-Asian racism"

A Recap on the past news about "Too Asian" in Maclean's publication that triggered off public anger over it's racist content targeting Asian Canadians in higher education.

CCNC Statement on Dialogue with Maclean’s
Monday November 22, 2010

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

Toronto, ON – The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter (CCNCTO) held a media briefing today to report back on the dialogue with Maclean’s magazine on their article entitled “Too Asian”?

CCNC and CCNCTO and a number of community organizations met with Maclean’s on November 12th and again on November 17th for hour each time. Maclean’s had offered to publish a letter from CCNC in a future edition. CCNC and CCNCTO, after consulting with various community organizations responded with a 4 point proposal:

Petition: Stop the U.S./South Korean Attack on DPRK

This post does not imply, excuse or justify the recent North Korean attack on Yeonpyeong but instead we hope to present a clearer understanding of the situation at hand and to put pressure on both Korea to find a peaceful resolution, with or (even better) without U.S intervention.

The primary concern that needs to be addressed here is ensuring the situation does not deteriorate and avoid an unnecessary escalation of war. Thinking back to Professor Chomsky lectures, it would be enough to give us reason to not support irrational "eye for an eye" resolution or even possibly a strategically orchestrated war.

We, as responsible moral human beings should set a better example and do what it takes to inform others well on how to avoid another Vietnam, Iraq,  Afghanistan and again Korean war.

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

Harvard Business - Business leadership is at the core of Asian economic development, says HBS professor D. Quinn Mills. As he explained recently in Kuala Lumpur, the American and Asian leadership styles, while very different, also share important similarities.

Editor's Note: Political connections and family control are more common in Asian businesses than in the United States. In addition, says HBS professor D. Quinn Mills, American CEOs tend to use one of five leadership styles: directive, participative, empowering, charismatic, or celebrity. Which styles have Asian business leaders adopted already, and which styles are likely to be most successful in the future?

In a talk in Kuala Lumpur on June 15 at the invitation of The Star/BizWeek publication and the Harvard Club of Malaysia, Mills explained the differences and similarities between American and Asian leadership. Below is the transcript of his talk, "Leadership Styles in the United States: How Different are They from Asia?"

Macleans Racism (Part I) - Maclean says "Too Asian", We say you are "Too racist".

There has been some recent discussion surrounding a racist piece of media that had recently surfaced on the Maclean's website about the increasing number of Asian students in their academic institutions (racist...ahem).

Not only has this article unnecessarily making an issue of race but also implying that Universities and colleges are "too Asian" for their liking, a very racist emitting but also at the same time hideous at a glance.

Although the original article has been edited the original version can be found here "Too Asian" (Thanks to Angry Asian Man's post).

So you might ask should Chinese Canadians be concerned? of course not, because we are not the ones complaining. Obviously all those who are enrolled in higher education is obviously there to study and nothing else.

Asians shoot to the top of the charts!

 
Last month was exciting in terms of entertainment news. Musicians made Asian American history, San Diego hosted its annual Asian Film Festival, Jon M. Chu’s career took off, Yao Ming returned to the basketball court, and Brenda Song received an award. Let’s get started!
Making beautiful music — for the mainstream!

For the week of Oct. 30, members of Far East Movement became the first Asian Americans to hit the top of the Billboard charts. Even more exciting was the fact that the number two spot was held by singer-songwriter Bruno Mars, who is of Filipino and Puerto Rican descent.
Far East Movement is made up of Kevin Nishimura “Kev Nish,” James Roh “Prohgress,” Jae Choung “J-Splif,” and Virman Coquia “DJ Virman.”
In a New York Daily News story, Oliver Wang, an assistant professor of sociology at California State University-Long Beach, said, “Far East Movement and Bruno Mars didn’t come just out of nowhere. There’s been a slow push to make it happen through social media. It’s finally hit that tipping point.”

San Diego’s Asian Film Festival: action-packed!

Oakland's First Asian-American Mayor Must Hit the Ground Running

OAKLAND, Calif.—Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou might have some words of advice for this city's first Asian-American mayor-elect, Jean Quan.

When he was elected president in 2008, at a time of great economic hardship and political instability, Ying-jeou famously said, “One day of excitement is enough.”

Quan should remember those words, says Kai Ping Liu, the veteran reporter who covered her mayoral campaign for the World Journal. Quan was declared Oakland’s next mayor on Wednesday, after a week of nail-biting suspense in one of the city’s tightest electoral races in recent years.

For Quan, “there is not much time to take the victory lap,” says Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “She has to hit the ground running.”

Oakland’s unemployment rate hit 17.3 percent in September, much higher than the state average of 12.4 percent. A series of robberies and assaults this year have heightened racial tensions and suspicions, especially between African Americans and Asian Americans.

Korean woman experiences anti-Chinese slurs in Vegas

C.I.V Blog - The following is a letter of complaint we received over the weekend. It reminds us of how racism against the Chinese in North America (especially when at a time so many US politicians are playing the anti-China card in the mid-term election).

I am beginning to think that racism and racial hatred cannot be abolished. I used to think we could. I treat others well, I respect others, and living here in Vancouver, I was confident that here we tend to look past the colour of one’s skin.

Now, I am fighting against racism as I experienced it in Vegas. But fighting racism once you experience it so blatantly is more difficult since your sense of objectivism and your ability to identify what is right and wrong and your ability to move past bad experiences become very very limited.

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