September 21, 2012

Los Angeles

In life, its sometimes having the luck of perfect timing that counts!

Mike Kai was on a flight today to LAX when the captain of his aircraft announces he is diverting his plane to make way for Endeavour's historic arrival.

Mike could see Endeavour on the back of a Boeing 747 right outside his plane window. 

As soon as Mike lands, he runs and jumps into a cab and asks the driver to take him to the South runway to watch Endeavour arrive.

Mike shoots this 32 second video just in time as Endeavour lands! 

SHANGHAI CALLING (USA/China), directed and written by Daniel Hsia with renowned producer Janet Yang, is the Opening Presentation film at the 35th annual Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), presented by Asian CineVision (ACV), on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at Asia Society and Museum (725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021). Numerous guests from the cast and crew including Daniel Henney and Eliza Coupe will attend the Opening Night Gala hosted at Asia Society. The Centerpiece Presentation, SUPERCAPITALIST (USA/Hong Kong), will be shown on Saturday, July 28, with director Simon Yin and lead actor-writer Derek Ting in attendance. The festivities end on Sunday, August 5 with the Closing Night Presentation of KNOTS (USA), with director Michael Kang and lead actress-writer Kimberly-Rose Wolter in attendance. The Festival runs July 25 through August 5, with screenings at Clearview Cinemas (260 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011) and Asia Society and Museum (725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021).

This year the Asian American International Film Festival features 50 New York premieres-narrative and documentary features, and shorts-of all genres from The Philippines, Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, UK, Canada and across the Asian Diaspora.

Opening Night Presentation:
SHANGHAI CALLING – Dir. Daniel Hsia | Starring Daniel Henney, Eliza Coupe | USA/China

A new musical, The Yellow Wood, by Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen, has taken root at The Acorn Theatre in New York. Directed by BD Wong and presented by the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and Gold Modern, performances run through October 1, 2007.

The triple threats Wong has assembled for his directorial debut include Jason Tam, Yuka Takara, MaryAnn Hu, Randy Blair, Caissie Levy, Paul Clausen, Jill Abramovitz, Elizabeth Lundberg, Sean Bradford, Dennis Moench, Scot Fedderly, and Marnie Schulenburg.

July 31, 2012

Its not over yet folks. Six more trials and one more sentencing remain. 

Yesterday, a jury acquitted Sergeant Adam M. Holcomb—one of eight soldiers charged in the hazing and death of Pvt. Danny Chen—of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, communicating a threat and violations of a military statute that prohibits hazing. Based on the jury’s recommendation, Sgt. Holcomb, who was convicted of two counts of maltreatment and one count of assault consummated by battery, may only receive a sentence of 30 days in prison, reduction of one rank, to specialist, and a fine of $1,181.55.

Mee Moua, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, Tom Hayashi, executive director of OCA, and Elizabeth OuYang, OCA-NY president, issued the following statement.

"I think the advantage of being an Asian basketball player in America is that no one expects anything from you, and no one thinks you are going to be good," Lin told a press conference in Taipei. Give it to Lin to say it how it is. And good luck on the next chapter of your amazing career, Jeremy. 

And if you are not one of the thousands of viewers of Jeremy Lin's Skype chat this week with a 5 year old named Naim and his family check the link out below. Naim was reportedly devastated by the Knicks decision to not match the Houston Rockets offer. 

When time came for the Skype chat with Jeremy, young Naim was nearly speechless. Most telling is Lin's attention and patience to chatting with Naim and his family. With the awkward silence waiting for 5 year old Naim to chat with Jeremy (Naim barely made a peep), and with Naim's parents filling in the silence with chatter, a typical phony-baloney big-headed basketball star would have said thanks and good bye. But Lin seemed to be sincerely interested in having a conversation with young Naim and his parents and gave the family quality time. Kudos to Lin for being a class act.   

Here's a link to Jeremy's chat with Naim and his family. (click on the full story headline for the link to activate).