We love our pets! With the world financial markets in crisis and so much turmoil in the news lately, its wonderful to just enjoy the simple things in life - like hugging your pet!

This past weekend pets from all over the country came to Halloween Parties at pet stores such as Petco to strut their stuff.

Enjoy these photos from one of the Petco stores in San Diego, California, courtesy of Daniel Sundin.

We love our pets! With the world financial markets in crisis and so much turmoil in the news lately, its wonderful to just enjoy the simple things in life - like hugging your pet!

This past weekend pets from all over the country came to Halloween Parties at pet stores such as Petco to strut their stuff.

Enjoy these photos from one of the Petco's stores in San Diego, California, courtesy of Daniel Sundin.

The top three awards of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) will be presented to Dith Pran (posthumous), former photographer of The New York Times ; Simon Li, former assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Times ; and Dori Maynard, president and chief executive officer of The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

SAN FRANCISCO (June 26, 2008) The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) announced the winners of three of its top awards for 2008: Dith Pran (posthumous), former photographer of The New York Times ; Simon Li, former assistant managing editor of the Los Angeles Times ; and Dori Maynard, president and chief executive officer of The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

AAJA will present the awards at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on Friday, July 25 during its gala scholarship and awards banquet, which is part of the UNITY: Journalists of Color Convention. Ti-Hua Chang and JuJu Chang will emcee the banquet. Martin Bashir, co-anchor of ABC's "Nightline" and correspondent on "20/20", will be the keynote speaker.

AAJA is the nation's largest professional organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists. Representing approximately 2,000 members, AAJA promotes fair and accurate news coverage, develops managers in the media industry and encourages young people to consider journalism as a career.

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Celebrate the 30th Annual Asian/Pacific American (A/PA) Heritage Festival
on May 3, 2009 at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

The Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA) is holding their 30th Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 3, 2009 from noon - 6pm, at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (East 47th St. and 2nd Ave) in New York.

The day long celebration of Asian Pacific American culture is the longest running and largest Pan Asian heritage festival on the East Coast, and will feature an outdoor music and dance festival with traditional and contemporary Asian Americans artists including Bollywood Axion Dance Company (Western/Indian dance), Jack Lords (Hawaiian/Urban music), NYC Bhangra Club, P.I.C (hiphopunkfunkmamboska music group), COBU (Japanese Taiko Drumming/Tap), and many more.

There will be something for everyone, tasty Asian dishes in the food booths, artists demonstrating Chinese calligraphy, Mehandi art (painting designs on the skin of the hands and feet) and folk artists creating dough figurines.

For the Asian American community, prominent Asian American social groups will be present to educate the Asian public about numerous valuable services available to them, as well as volunteer opportunities and non-profit avenues to get involved in the community.

For more details on the event, go to:

San Diego Asian Film Festival Opens with Jessica Yu's Ping Pong Playa

The San Diego Asian Film Festival presented by Toyota Matrix, is screening films at the Mission Valley UltraStar Cinema at Hazard Center, OCTOBER 9-16, 2008. In San Diego's largest Pan Asian cultural event, over 130 short and feature films from a record 17 countries including the Canada, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.S. are unreeling this year. For tickets and the complete program schedule, go to www.sdaff.org.

Highlights include:

The Newport Beach Film Festival is open! This year 400+ features, shorts, documentaries and animations are screened. Now considered one of the top 20 film festivals in the country, the festival offers filmmaker parties, directors roundtables, and receptions throughout Newport Beach, and in nearby communities in Orange County. The Spotlights including Action Sports, French, Italian, Latino, Irish, Australian and yes! - Asian! Stay tuned as AC Team brings you more updates from the festival!