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.
BOSTON — Perhaps you've heard of Heejun Han, the 22-year-old Korean American from Flushing, Queens, who also happens to be a semi-finalist on American Idol Season 11.
To many, he may seem an unlikely star. He's known for his likable personality, but also for shaking his arms before each performance to get the nerves out. Idol judge and Aerosmith leading man Steven Tyler said Han's song selection on Tuesday night — Robbie Williams' "Angel" — was a miss.
But when he opens his mouth to sing — that’s when US pop star Jennifer Lopez gets a little teary. His voice on Tuesday was "smooth as silk," J Lo said. His initial performance “really impressed and shocked” another judge, music producer Randy Jackson. Even Tyler said previously he thought Han “could be the next American Idol.”
Han isn’t the first Asian American to be on American Idol, but the overwhelming love and attention he’s getting on camera and off makes it seem that way.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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?
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.
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:
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.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Today, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) and the Asian Law Caucus (ALC), members of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, applauded the California Supreme Court in upholding California law AB 540 in the case, Martinez v. Regents of the University of California. AB 540 is a state law that allows both documented and undocumented students to attend California's college
s and universities and pay in-state tuition rates.
Last September, APALC and ALC, along with a coalition of nearly 80 Asian Pacific American (APA) civil rights, legal, social service, and community organizations, filed an amicus ("friend of the court") brief with the California Supreme Court, supporting immigrant college students' ability to pay in-state tuition under AB 540. The brief describes how thousands of APA students have been able to afford college under AB 540, how undocumented students would be harmed if AB 540 was eliminated, and how APA youth become undocumented and the challenges they face.
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.
Jeff was publisher of A. Magazine, one of the most popular and influential Asian American magazines during its run from 1989-2002. Since then, Jeff has published several books including co-editing Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and is widely recognized and respected as an expert on Asian and Asian American pop culture. I have admired Jeff’s work for a long time but only finally got the chance to meet him at Syracuse.
By Jeff Yang, Special to SF Gate Thursday, February 25, 2010
The notion that Asians and Jews are two shoots from the same cultural rootstock is an old but evergreen meme.
You see it in fringe theories about the Lost Tribes of Israel -- there's an entire body of cryptoarchaeological canon that uses similarities between customs, language and naming convention to "prove" that the ancient vanished Jewish clans ended up in China, India or Japan. (Japan's 50,000-member Makuya sect, which has as its central dogma that the Japanese are descendants of a lost Jewish tribe, keep kosher, speak Hebrew and use the seven-armed menorah as their symbol.)
As explained in section IV of Remember, the Asian-American Man and Woman are a couple under siege from mainstream America.
Those that choose to remain with each other are stamped as 'Asian and foreign', while on an unspoken but quite apparent level - only Asian women are afforded the opportunity to mingle and integrate into white social circles and white families.
The psychological pressure on the Asian woman to conform becomes immensely powerful, given the life-long indoctrination she is given by a mainstream American media that is completely devoid of images of Asian faces and depictions of viable Asian-American couples/families. This will gradually and inevitably destroy the kindred bond the Asian female shares with the Asian male from a young age, and the damage is thorough and complete.
In other words, the internalized racism that Asian-American children learn from the American Media destroys their ethnic self-esteem - and this in turn erodes the ability of the Asian-American boy and girl to love each other as adults.
Since the Asian American film burst onto the scene thirty something years ago, many of those filmmakers, such as, Christine Choy, Wayne Wang, Mira Nair, Ang Lee, Justin Lin and among others are now comfortably part of the American cinematic mainstream.
Each year, hundreds of filmmakers from around the Asian Diaspora submit their short films to Asian American film festivals. They have given us stories of immigration and assimilation, adversity and triumph, motivation and inspiration of all genres: narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, music video.
Common reoccurring themes include identity politics, alienated youth, hypersexualization, math nerds, over-achievers, stereotypes, suburban alienation, and kung-fu waiters. Been there? Done that?
In this new year of 2010 I hope everyone can continue to be optimistic as this ever struggling economy still has a heart beat, although we have been told our economies have recovered our wages are still just as terrible ( I think not ). There is still no excuse for not making the best of what we have and we should continue to strive for new heights.
In the past, this website had primarily worked on with publishing Asian related content, intelligent opinions, informative articles and any positive Asian media.
This year there will be a slight adjustment to the style of posting, usually we would publish news without actual commentary but as of today we will be adding in our 2 cents worth to everything post. Ideally would like to throw topics in the air and have people take it upon themselves to think about issues.
We'll try to remain objective about each issue.
The first fear mongering article I've come across since the beginning of this new year sums up all the forecasts of "experts" panic stricken and fear mongering media who can only see this world burning in hell.
Trevor Middleton, 23, of Sutton, was convicted Dec. 15 in a Newmarket court of four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Middleton had been charged with trying to run Liu's Honda off the road, not for the dunking of Liu and Hogan.
The incident on the Mossington Park Bridge is an extreme example of attacks and harassment that have been inflicted scores of times in the past few years on Asian fishermen in the Greater Toronto Area. It has become so common that the attacks have nicknames by some Georgina Township locals: "nip-tipping" and "nipper-tipping."
What's unique about the attack on Liu and Hogan – apart from the near-fatal and crippling injury to Berwick – is the huge attention it has garnered from Asian community leaders, activists and media members.
Some thing's are better as never said and when words are spoken people should be accountable for what they say. Given that as responsibility, it could also be seen at another angle that there is also the responsibility for not saying what needs to be said.
Much could be said about the media little racist scheme during the U.S president's visit to China to improve economic ties and collaboration between the U.S and China.
Obama was on business trying to look for ways to fix up his bankrupt economy that was left to him in the worst state.
Firstly the white media tried painting China as anti-black racists and claims China disliked "chocolate coloured skin". Though this was not something that came from the Chinese mouths it was indeed straight out the mouth of white media who thought that they could make racists statements without taking responsibility by using China as a scapegoat.
To the people who thought racism was a thing of the past and no longer exists in the 21st century.... you are dead wrong. Some of us probably live in the nicer places in the country with some good multicultural friends but the people in the next town/city may not be so friendly.
To all my other dearest Asian Brothers, Sisters, Families, Civil Rights Advocacy groups, Asian Activists in western countries. We know racism is very much alive and it comes in all shapes and forms in mainstream society.
While we continue to experience it's reoccurring unpleasantness and Deja Vu's, I am all convinced we are still living as second class citizens and are still sunjected to different forms of racial oppression.
Ancient Taoist once believed the driving universal life principles are found in Yin and Yang, nature will seek neutrality and find balance between interchangeable opposing forces. Though my analogy might sound a little ancient in the philosophical works but you would eventually understand my point in our society at present.
The six men on stage included a poet, a break dancer and a filmmaker. They pounded rhythms on the dhol drum, modeled fresh fashions, slathered whipped cream on bare skin and discussed their passion for community service.
This is the "Mr. Hyphen" contest, a faux pageant in the San Francisco Bay area aimed at redefining the image of Asian-American men beyond nerdy, sexless stereotypes.
Conspicuously absent from the stage were computer experts, doctors, lawyers or dry cleaners. There were, however, martial arts - with a twist.
Pahole Sookkasikon, an American-born graduate student partial to drawing, cooking, and "flirting for free drinks at the bar," knew that his hobbies would not translate well to the talent portion of the show.
When the Hyphen editorial team discovered that Amy Tan was the recipient of the third annual Litquake Barbary Coast Award for contribution to the Bay Area literary community, there was a flurry of confused emails: What exactly was this award and why did Amy Tan deserve to win it? I decided to go and investigate how the San Francisco literary community celebrates one of Asian America's most (in)famous writers.
As I sat in the half-full Herbst Theater this past Wednesday, in a crowd that seemed to be made up of mostly middle-aged white people, I considered what exactly I thought of Amy Tan's winning this award. Obviously, as we have covered at Hyphen extensively, though Tan indeed put "the Bay Area on the literary map" -- the point of the award as explained by Litquake's founders Jack Boulware and Jane Ganhal -- The Joy Luck Club and Tan's subsequent bibliography has irked many an Asian American.
What can be more depressing than a story like this to remind us of our current society and the state of human morality. It is important that we should continue to advocate against human trafficking and foriegners who go overseas to find Asian wives or sex touring for Asian women (or in this case, Children too).
Typically, these are the types that have the imperialist mindset, they prey on those who are inpoverished and live in difficult conditions. The circumstances that exposes a vulnerability can be said without reference, human trafficking or sexual exploitation of Asian women.
We have similar issues that exist in first world countries only that these problems exist on a another level. In the social context, racism comes intertwined with stereotypes, race sexual fetish, Asian fetishism, Pedophilia, Asiaphiles, Sexism, Rapists, murders etc all that commonly share the same basis on the grounds of racism.
ScienceDaily - Although Asian-Americans as a group have lower rates of thinking about and attempting suicide than the national average, U.S.-born Asian-American women seem to be particularly at risk for suicidal behavior, according to new University of Washington research.
The study shows 15.93 percent of U.S.-born Asian-American women have contemplated suicide in their lifetime, exceeding national estimates of 13.5 percent for all Americans. The finding comes in a study published in the current issue of the journal Archives of Suicide Research. Lifetime estimates of suicide attempts also were higher among U.S-born Asian-American women than the general population, 6.29 percent vs. 4.6 percent.
SFGATE - A group of community leaders and journalists did something seemingly unusual last week - they started a newspaper, the Nichi Bei Weekly.
But while its introduction comes as economic pressures are forcing publications to scale down or close, it also comes at a time when the audience for ethnic media is bigger than ever.
According to a study earlier this year by New America Media, a San Francisco group that represents 2,000 ethnic news organizations around the country, readership in this sector increased by 16 percent over the last four years.
Still, it won't be easy. Despite an increasing readership, the ethnic press hasn't escaped the same downturn in advertising that has hurt mainstream publications.
The fledgling Weekly, in fact, was born out of the demise of the Nichi Bei Times, Northern California's oldest Japanese American paper.
Xinhuanet - The Liberal Democrats, Japan's ruling party, conceded a crushing defeat on August 31 as voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). And Prime Minister Taro Aso, leader of the LDP, said he was to resign as Party leader after the election defeat.
This election outcome has given a full proof of Japan's prevailing mainstream public opinions. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for more than half a century since it was formed in 1955, and so the Chinese government has been acquainted with its policies toward China. The Chinese side, nevertheless, is not so familiar with the China policies of the DPJ as well as their impact on Sino-Japanese relations.
Of course, the DPJ would surely treasure the political power it had longed for many years and eventually succeeded to win, implement its election promise in developing economy and improving the people's livelihood, so as to enhance and consolidate the basis of its power.
Angry Asian Man - If you've been watching the tube, you probably know that there are no new ideas out there. Thus, there's a new version of Melrose Place coming to the CW this fall. Starting next week, actually. It's the return of 1990s trash TV!
It's worth noting that Stephanie Jacobsen is in the cast as "Lauren Yung," a medical student who must come up with a creative way to pay her tuition. You might recognize her from the feature-length Battlestar Galactica installment Razor or her brief stint on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I've seen the pilot of this new Melrose Place, and it's pretty much everything you'd expect. Hey, it's not like the old show was high quality television either. Oh, and the "creative way" Lauren comes up with to pay the med school bills? Just watch the promo above. Yup. Melrose Place.
NICHIBEI - The Nichi Bei Times’ board of directors has decided to close Northern California’s oldest
Japanese American newspaper on Sept. 30 of this year after 63 years of business. In its place, a group of Nichi Bei Times staff and community members plan to start the Nichi Bei Foundation, a separate nonprofit reincarnation of the paper.
Kenji G. Taguma, the Nichi Bei Times’ vice president and English edition editor, has pioneered plans for the new Foundation because he believes the paper is an essential voice for Japanese Americans.
“Today, I see the paper as the glue that holds the community together,” Taguma said.
Decline in circulation and advertisements were chief reasons for the decision to close the Nichi Bei Times, said Ken Abiko, board chair of the paper, whose circulation base of around 8,000 includes primarily Northern California readers.
Endthekoreanwar.org - July 27th is the 56th anniversary of when the United States signed a temporary armistice with North Korea to halt the fighting of the Korean War. Across the United States, five cities—Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland, and Washington, DC—held candlelight vigils to commemorate the signing of the armistice.
The armistice wasn't something to be celebrated because it only provided a stopgap measure to stop the fighting. The Korean War didn't end with a permanent resolution, without a peace treaty.
But it was significant at the time in 1953 because within three years, two million soldiers, including 37,000 U.S. troops, died. Three million Korean civilians were killed (1 in 10), and the entire Korean peninsula was decimated.
Cinevision - Back in April Asian CineVision announced Liliana Chen of eLcie Media Services as its new Executive Producer of this year's Asian American International Film Festival. Ms. Chen's active involvement with the non-profit community, along with a strong record of bringing Asian and Asian-American projects into the spotlight of mainstream media make her the ideal partner for the festival, now in its 32nd consecutive year
"Liliana's been such an avid supporter of our organization and the film festival over the last 10 years through a myriad of ways that have really helped ACV to grow whether it was through fundraising or organizing events," said Festival Manager, Irene Cifra. "It's exciting that we can work together in a greater capacity and realize the potential of a full partnership."
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.
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.
As white Americans move into the minority, some are claiming they're the ones now subject to racial oppression. Do they have a case?
Eco Chef Bryan Au has just released a new recipe book that will "rawck your world".
This post does not imply, excuse or justify the recent North Korean attack on 
There has been some recent discussion surrounding a racist piece of media that had recently surfaced on the 
Posting from the "Colorblind" Blog:
By Jeff Yang, Special to SF Gate
Since the Asian American film burst onto the scene thirty something years ago, many of those filmmakers, such as, Christine Choy, Wayne Wang, Mira Nair, Ang Lee, Justin Lin and among others are now comfortably part of the American cinematic mainstream.
Trevor Middleton, 23, of Sutton, was convicted Dec. 15 in a Newmarket court of four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Some thing's are better as never said and when words are spoken people should be accountable for what they say. Given that as responsibility, it could also be seen at another angle that there is also the responsibility for not saying what needs to be said.
To the people who thought racism was a thing of the past and no longer exists in the 21st century.... you are dead wrong. Some of us probably live in the nicer places in the country with some good multicultural friends but the people in the next town/city may not be so friendly.
The six men on stage included a poet, a break dancer and a filmmaker. They pounded rhythms on the dhol drum, modeled fresh fashions, slathered whipped cream on bare skin and discussed their passion for community service.
When the Hyphen editorial team discovered that Amy Tan was the recipient of the third annual Litquake Barbary Coast Award for contribution to the Bay Area literary community, there was a flurry of confused emails: What exactly was this award and why did Amy Tan deserve to win it? I decided to go and investigate how the San Francisco literary community celebrates one of Asian America's most (in)famous writers.
What can be more depressing than a story like this to remind us of our current society and the state of human morality. It is important that we should continue to advocate against human trafficking and foriegners who go overseas to find Asian wives or sex touring for Asian women (or in this case, Children too).
ScienceDaily - Although Asian-Americans as a group have lower rates of thinking about and attempting suicide than the national average, U.S.-born Asian-American women seem to be particularly at risk for suicidal behavior, according to new University of Washington research.
SFGATE - A group of community leaders and journalists did something seemingly unusual last week - they started a newspaper, the Nichi Bei Weekly.
Xinhuanet - The Liberal Democrats, Japan's ruling party, conceded a crushing defeat on August 31 as voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). And Prime Minister Taro Aso, leader of the LDP, said he was to resign as Party leader after the election defeat.
Angry Asian Man - If you've been watching the tube, you probably know that there are no new ideas out there. Thus, there's a new version of Melrose Place coming to the CW this fall. Starting next week, actually. It's the return of 1990s trash TV!
NICHIBEI - The Nichi Bei Times’ board of directors has decided to close Northern California’s oldest 
Endthekoreanwar.org - July 27th is the 56th anniversary of when the United States signed a temporary armistice with North Korea to halt the fighting of the Korean War. Across the United States, five cities—Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland, and Washington, DC—held candlelight vigils to commemorate the signing of the armistice.
