February 2008 Archives
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We yah hani nah Coastal First Nations Dance Festival | Vancouver
The WE YAH HANI NAH COASTAL FIRST NATIONS DANCE FESTIVAL has been revived at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. The First Nations dance festival was first started in the 1960s by Chief Ken Harris of the Dakhumhast House of the Gitksan and continued to be celebrated in Prince Rupert, B.C., until the 1980s.
This year, the festival will be presented again by First Nations dancers from along the coast and the Yukon thanks to the support of the Cultural Olympiad. The performances started on Feb. 16 and will continue on March 2 and 16.
The dancers will be joining the Dancers of Damelahamid, a multi-generational traditional dance group that performs dances belonging to the family of Chief Harris, and they will be re-enacting historical events and traditions, like welcoming guests to a feast.
Be sure to check out this amazing dance tradition, which will hopefully see a resurgence in years to come!
We yah hani nah Coastal First Nations Dance Festival
March 2 and 16 @ 3 p.m.
The Museum of Anthropology at U.B.C.
Tags: Aboriginal, Events, Vancouver
Audio Melting Pot | Balkan Beat Box | Chan Centre | March 1st
BALKAN BEAT BOX may call the Big Apple home, but their sound is as international as they come. Headed by two Israelis Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan, the band's sound intricately blends electronica, hip-hop and dancehall with hard-edged folk music from North America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Their latest record, Nu Med, has been universally well-received since its release last May, with Amazon.com praising its "insistently catchy" melodies as well as the overall sound that is "far from forced, easily summing up the musicians' lives in their homeland as well as their current experiences living in New York City."
Experience the fun and far-reaching musical melting pot when Balkan Beat Box visits the Chan Centre this Saturday, March 1st.
Posted by Hansol | February 28, 2008 | Comments (0)Tags:
Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen | Westcoast Launch
An anthology of Asia Canada on screen? Oh yes, it's been done, it's been published, and you should grab it as it comes hot off the presses. The Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival presents REEL ASIAN: ASIAN CANADA ON SCREEN ($29.95), the first-ever collection of writings of its kind to explore East and Southeast Asian Canadian contributions to the large and small screens.
Inside Reel Asian: Asian Canada on Screen, you'll find biographies of the 38 contributors (list under the cut), distributor contact info, full-colour film stills, and photo-essays as well as traditional interviews to instant-messaging scripts. The book brings together creators of award-winning features and acclaimed experimental shorts; critics, curators, artists and activists; enemy aliens, impersonators, ex-pats and 'Food Jammers' to explore how history and culture have played out onscreen.
Reel Asian: Asian Canada On Screen | Vancouver Launch
Thursday, February 28, 2008 | 7:00pm
VIVO Media Arts Centre @ 1965 Main Street
Free
(Co-presented by VIVO Media Arts, Cineworks, Centre A and On Edge)
Posted by Tamiko | February 27, 2008 | Comments (0)Tags: Events, Literature, Vancouver
Lovers in a Dangerous Time | LÉO | Vancouver | Feb. 20 - March 1
Sex and politics make for perilous bedfellows. In Canadian playwright Rosa Laborde's LÉO, presented by the Firehall Arts Centre, budding sexuality collides with political passion. The play has been called "exquisitely poetic," "sharp-edged" and "stunning."
Léo, Isolda and Rodrigo are childhood friends caught in the sharp corners of a love triangle. They come of age during the heady days of Salvador Allende's election. When a military coup turns Chile against itself, innocence disappears. Passion and politics collide in this stunning new play about life and love in dangerous times.
Not for the faint of heart, perhaps, but guaranteed to be incendiary.
More: Interview with playwright Rosa Laborde in The Social Edge
Posted by nikki reimer | February 24, 2008
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Tags: Theatre
Comic | Johnny Hiro | Half-Asian, All Hero
The excitement never ends, even though Johnny Hiro really wants it to...
By day, he's Johnny Hiro; by night? He's still Johnny Hiro.
Fred Chao's comic book series "JOHNNY HIRO", published by Adhouse books, is now on its 3rd issue, has been receiving lots of accolades from comic aficionados around the web. Our accidental hero, Johnny, lives with his girl Mayumi in New York, which everyone knows is the center of pop culture action and monster mayhem. They're like every other couple going through the everyday struggles of making rent, working their mundane jobs and of course, going to court because Godzilla destroyed their apartment.
Chao cleverly mixes the fantastical with the everyday, introducing villains like the 47 Ronin Businessmen featured in the latest installment, which is, "a modern spin on a classic Japanese fairy tale" (SOURCE).
More:
Source: Asian American Comics |
Adhouse Books site, which also features sample pdfs of the book | Interview with creator Fred Chao @ Comixology here
Posted by Shaena K. | February 24, 2008
| Comments (0)
Tags: Literature
Kutlug Ataman: Paradise and Kuba | Vancouver | Feb. 9-May 19
Openly gay, Turkish contemporary artist KUTLUG ATAMAN will be showing his newly commissioned video installation, "Paradise," at the Vancouver Art Gallery from Feb. 9 to May 19.
The critically acclaimed artist and filmmaker often explores sexual identity and gender in his works. However, in his work,"Paradise," he looks at 24 Southern Californians as they describe their experience of "paradise."
Ataman's video installation will be shown in conjunction with his 2004 Carnegie Prize winning video installation, "Kuba." This work looks at a "utopian community" situated on the outskirts of Istanbul.
Kutlug Ataman: Paradise and Kuba
Vancouver Art Gallery
Feb. 9-May 19, 2008
Tix (INFO)
Tags: Art
Most adorable/creepy rice sacks ever! | Dakigokochi
Japan's Yosimiya is marketing a novel twist on the classic birth announcement. DAKIGOKOCHI are sacks of rice printed with all the info included in a traditional birth announcement.
Available in a variety of colourful designs, the bean-like shape of the sacks combined with the personalized picture of each baby's face make the sacks look like swaddled infants. Rice weighed to match the weight of each child at birth adds to the fake baby fun. Neat, and somewhat practical - if in a silly, impractical Japanese way.
They're also pretty cute and cuddly-looking - until you think about slicing them open and boiling their delicious insides... the bags, not the babies.
More: Dakigokochi @ http://www.yosimiya.com
Posted by gloria | February 23, 2008
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Tags: Culture
Elise Estrada | Filcan pop princess
She had to go all the way to the Philippines for her crack at stardom...but she did it. 20-year-old Vancouver-reared Filcan (Filipino Canadian) pop singer ELISE ESTRADA competed in the 2006 Pinoy Pop Superstar competition (a top rated American Idol-type TV show in the Philippines). She represented Canada in the competition, after winning Miss Vancouver Princess 2004 and being first runner-up in the Binibining Miss Pilipinas World of Canada Competition. Really.
Elise's singles Insatiable, as well as Ix-Nay and Un-Love You, have had rotation on Vancouver's The Beat 94.5 FM and other radio stations across Canada. Her video for Ix-Nay is curently playing on MuchMusic's Vibe. Elise's self-titled album will be out in May 2008.
More: Elise Estrada's MySpace here | Elise Estrada interview @ www.earsonline.com | Elise Estrada fan site here | Videos under the cut
Posted by Tamiko | February 22, 2008
| Comments (1)
Tags: People
Funk | perhaps the most ethnically cool thing evah
From our ARCHIVES:
"A colored is a very frightened-to-death Afro-American. A Negro is one that makes it in the system, and he wants to be white. A nigger, he's loud and boisterous, wants to be seen. Nobody likes a nigger. A black man has pride. He wants to build, he wants to make his race mean something. Wants to have a culture and art forms. And he's not prejudiced. I am a black American man. Now you go ahead and print it." - James Brown, 1982
We take it for granted that the funk and soul of the Black American is the foundation of pop music as we know it. To me, FUNK is perhaps the most ethnically cool thing known to modern society. And funk is synonymous with one man, JAMES BROWN. Eddie Murphy's Jimmy Thunder character in Dreamgirls is based on JB (just like Eddie played JB in the hot tub on SNL back in the day) but the movie of course focuses on the Diana Ross and Mototwn founder Berry Gordy inspired characters that Beyonce and Jamie Foxx play. Foxx's Ray was another look at the journey that black music took to make it to the white mainstream pop-land but there's a bit of nostalgia involved in those 2 stories where James Brown's legacy is just as strong today as it ever was. As legendary music journalist, Robert Christgau attests that "funk beats are the language of American popular music..."
More: Check out the solid cover story tribute by Rolling Stone to the Godfather and what he means to music and culture.
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag video | Papa's Got a Brand New Bag/I Feel Good live medley performance | Rocky IV: Living in America (and the look on Drago's face!) | Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud) - Playboy after Dark show | Out of Sight - the T.A.M.I. show
Originally posted by Boon Kondo
Posted by Alden | February 21, 2008
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Tags: Black History Month
M.I.A. for Marc by Marc Jacobs | Spring/Summer 2008 line
M.I.A is a fashionista...now. The British vocalist--by way of Sri Lanka--is known for mixing genres in her eclectic music, from ragga to dancehall to hiphop to grime. Her 2007 album Kala was awarded album of the year by Rolling Stone.
And now M.I.A is muse to Marc Jacob, as the new face for his Marc for Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2008 line. The menswear-inspired gear was photographed by Juergen Teller, and you'll see M.I.A. in yellows, cobalt, ties, and oversized sunglasses.
Check. It. Out.
More: Photos under the cut | Sourced from Buzzworthy | Archived Schema article about M.I.A. here
Posted by Tamiko | February 20, 2008
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Black History in Toronto Schools | Remember Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
Black history in Canadian high schools has become a hot topic. The Toronto District School Board has made the plans to pilot alternative schools whose curriculum is focused on black history. "Those who support the idea say an alternative school could help reduce a disproportionately high dropout rate among black students in Toronto. Those opposed say it would create yet another cultural divide." (Read the complete article on CBC.ca)
In the same week the TDSB released its recommendation, an old episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air so happened to be on the television. Fresh Prince was a break-through in mainstream TV for youth, simply because it portrayed black Americans as everyday (and somewhat privileged) people. In this episode, The Ethnic Tip, Will (played by Will Smith) complains of being disengaged in school, explaining his low history grades. He proposes a black history class be instituted at Bel-Air Academy, and gets a surprise when Aunt Viv arrives to teach it (more). Originally broadcast in 1991, it's poignantly relevant for today.
It was funny! But it brought to light an important issue: that our high schools are not teaching the most diverse generation of Canadian youth history that is personally relevant. Or in the very least, acknowledges their communities' histories as part of the bigger picture. Underneath the laughter is the reality that so little has changed in seventeen years.
Let us know what you think?
Posted by Alden | February 19, 2008 | Comments (0)Tags: Black History Month, News
Fresh Face | Teyana Taylor
When this chick blows up everywhere later this year, just be ready, because it's gonna be big. Harlem, NYC-raised TEYANA TAYLOR might only be 16 years old, but that hasn't stopped her from making things happen.
Her big hair and ice-cream color palate first appeared on an episode of MTV's My Super Sweet 16, but she's also helped choreograph Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm" video, performed for Pharrell Williams and execs from Universal and Interscope.
Now, with her debut full length album, From A Planet Called Harlem, on the horizon --it will be out on Star Trak, a division of Interscope later this year--Teyana is dropping hot beats everywhere.
Hit up her hot single "Google Me" on Teyana's MySpace page.
More: Teyana Taylor's MySpace here | Interview with VIBE @ www.vibe.com
Posted by Michelle D. | February 18, 2008
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Sexy Can I? | Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition | model diversity
This year's SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITION may have typical "All-American" Marisa Miller on its cover, but inside promises a bevy of models from a varied ethnic spectrum--proving what we already know, that sexy doesn't only equal blonde-and-blue-eyed beauties.
The 2008 models featured, among others, include: Ana Beatriz Barros and Jeisa Chiminazzo and Daniella Sarahyba from Brazil; Selita Ebanks from The Cayman Islands; African Americans Quiana Grant and Jessica White; Oluchi Onweagba hails from Nigeria; Bar Refaeli from Israel (also Leonardo diCaprio's partner); Irina Shayk and Anne V from Russia; Australian Jessica Gomes, a hapa of Singaporean-German descent; and Jarah Mariano, an Asian American of Hawaiian-Korean-Chinese descent (pictured).
Enjoy...just ignore the caption they added: "...and other exotic models."
More: Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit Edition @ sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/2008_swimsuit
Posted by Tamiko | February 17, 2008 | Comments (1)Tags:
Lida Abdul | Vancouver | Jan. 23-March 1
With two weeks left, head to Vancouver's Centre A Gallery for acclaimed Afghan artist LIDA ABDUL's self-titled exhibit.
The exhibit includes photography and performance document. Abdul's films and photographs will be shown at Centre A, and the debut of her new film as well as a co-documentation of her performance will be presented at the Western Front.
Abdul's work is set in Afghanistan, with a focus on the idea of "ruin." Abdul explores this idea, both architecturally and psychologically speaking, and its political gestures. Her films are marked by optimism and lyricsim.
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1973, Abdul's work fuses Western formalism with various traditions that influence Afghan art and culture. Her work has been shown worldwide, and this Canadian exhibition has been presented in partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.
Posted by Michelle D. | February 16, 2008 | Comments (0)Tags: Art
72nd to Canal | web sitcom | thetyee.ca
Making TV is almost impossible. It's expensive (obstacle number one). Then it can takes years to get from the idea to pitching (pitching is obstacle two through nine). If you're lucky you'll land some development money, and possibly take your idea into the production of a pilot. And then there's testing. Yes, shows are tested to determine if the characters actually connect with audiences. Despite what people tell you, TV viewers want to escape. All in all--from inception to writing to the making of--there are at least a thousand reasons your brilliant idea for a sitcom should NOT make it to broadcast. And that's being optimistic. So why wait? Go make it for web. Whether it's a hit, or not ... who cares. The point is, you made it. The more you make, the better you get. That's the strategy, anyway.
72ND TO CANAL is a web sitcom.
From the thetyee.ca: "The comedy follows the lives of a group of friends in their late 20s and early 30s who are trying to establish careers and find love in an expensive and unforgiving city -- a familiar premise to anyone who's seen That Girl, Friends or Sex and the City. Yet, 72nd to Canal is unlike anything currently on North American television because the majority of the cast and crew is Asian American, as is the writer and director. It's refreshing to see Asian American characters in ordinary situations, rather than in tired orientalist storylines or epic kung fu battles." Read the fantabulous post by Doretta Lau on thetyee.ca: Love, laughs and (finally) some real Asian characters.
Watch the web sitcom here.
Posted by Alden | February 16, 2008 | Comments (1)Tags: TV
Hip-Hop Karaoke | Toronto
Before you go to another karaoke night at your local bar, where you're bound to hear wannabe renditions of "I Will Survive," "Ice Ice Baby," and "Save The Best For Last," why not tone down the cheese and turn up the beats with HIP-HOP KARAOKE instead?
Hip-hop karaoke is the chance for closet MCs to finally grab the mic and bust out their favorite raps on stage with an accompanying DJ. The event started in New York in December 2004 by J. New, DJ Wex and Digs. And now hip-hop karaoke has caught on around the world with nights in London, Brighton, Bristol, Iceland, and Toronto.
Toronto's hip-hop karaoke event is hosted by Never Forgive Action at The Boat. The night promises no attitude and just good fun for both seasoned hip-hop veterans and casual fans.
So, forget the cheese. Seriously, nobody needs to hear you try and belt out Mariah! And step up to the mic at hip-hop karaoke.
HIP-HOP KARAOKE
Feb. 15, 9 p.m.
The Boat (158 Augusta Ave., Toronto)
Tix. $5
Up the Yangtze | Opening in Canadian Theatres | Vancouver | Montreal | Ottawa
"Up the Yangtze is a terrible beauty. While it is visually stunning, it is agonizingly difficult to watch, particularly when the river, a symbol of life, slowly and methodically swallows up the homes of the people, and by extension the life of China. One can only wonder, is this the final sting of the Cultural Revolution?" (Read the original SCHEMA review from VIFF 2007 here.)
This is a MUST SEE film. Don't fall for the countless awards or all the film festival hype, see it for yourself. UP THE YANGTZE is opening in theatres across Canada:
Vancouver | Opens February 15th at the THE RIDGE
Montreal | Opens February 22nd at AMC FORUM
Ottawa | Opens February 29th at BYTOWNE
From festivalcinemas.ca: Director Yung Chang uses the construction of China's massive Three Gorges Dam as a springboard to better understanding the social hierarchies and changing times in his homeland in this documentary focusing on the luxury cruise ship that carries predominately-Western tourists down the Yangtze River.
Constructed as a symbol of modern progress in China, the Three Gorges Dam has forced millions of common people out of their ancestral homes, and will soon swallow up numerous nearby towns and villages. Despite the fact that the government has funded alterative housing for the dislocated families, however, many citizens make their way to higher ground feeling as if they have been duped by the powers that be.
More: Screenings here.
Posted by Alden | February 14, 2008
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KidsGive Dolls | "Ethnically accurate" and charitable
Wan Ling is an 11-year-old girl who has moved to Shanghai, China, because her dad, a panda expert, has transferred to the Shanghai Zoo. Wang Ling is also an "ethnically accurate" 21" poseable doll by KARITO KIDS, which was recently featured at the 2008 Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto.
Designed for ages 6 and up, the Los Angeles-based Karito Kids/KidsGive also sells 5 other "ethnically accurate" dolls, which come with fictional chapter books that tell each girl's story. The other dolls include Lulu Rehema Kibwana from Kenya; Pia Rena Corta from Mexico; Gia Valentina Russo from Italy; and Zoe Nicole Linden from New York City. If you purchase a Karito doll, you can determine a charitable cause to which a percentage of the purchase price will be donated, and then you can follow the progress of the cause.
Even Oprah's gone on to endorse them: "These ethnically accurate dolls, and accompanying chapter books, are designed to give kids an appreciation for different cultures. Every purchase comes with a code that allows kids to go online and direct a portion of the price to one of four children's issues. Eat your heart out, Barbie!" (here)
A cool idea for sure, but wonder if the charitable causes include compensation for the workers who make the "ethnically accurate" dolls? Just asking...
More: KidsGive website @ www.kidsgive.com | Karito Kids @ www.karitokids.com | Sourced from Consumer Life @ CBC
Posted by Tamiko | February 13, 2008
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Tags: Culture
Tailor Made on CBC Newsworld | The legacy of Modernize Tailor
Modernize Tailors opened in 1913, and in the 1950s Bill and Jack Wong took over from their father. Over the years, they've created suits for all occasions and for customers from all walks of life-from lumberjacks and new immigrants to movie stars like Sean Connery and politicians like Sam Sullivan, the Mayor of Vancouver. (More on CBC.ca)
Modernize Tailors is such a significant part of Vancouver's history, it inspired the tailor shop in Jen Sookfong Lee's End of East.
Tailor shops are a historical cornerstone of almost every Chinatown in Canada, but this is no typical immigrant story. TAILOR MADE is really about two brothers' passion for their craft as "the godfathers of tailoring in western Canada." Challenged by the advent of their inevitable retirement (Bill now 85), their pursuit for an heir to the now-famous tailor shop forces them, grudgingly, to consider all the options. From potential buyers, a naive but determined apprentice -- to the gnawing possibility of ultimately letting go, this is a truly heart-touching Canadian story about legacy.
TAILOR MADE
Tuesday February 12, 2008 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld
That means it broadcasts twice! 10pm ET/7pm PT and then 1am ET/10pm PT.
More: CHECK our Bill and Jack's blog here!
That's right, no excuses.
Tags: TV
Atoosa Rubenstein | the Alpha Kitty
She calls herself an "Alpha Kitty" leading a female tribe of 13-30 year olds. Who is she? ATOOSA RUBENSTEIN, the former editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine and founding editor of CosmoGIRL!, and now founder of Big Momma Productions and Atoosa.com. She was also the youngest editor-in-chief (at age 26) in Hearst's 100 year old history. Not too shabby for a self-proclaimed dork.
Atoosa Rubenstein was born Atoosa Behnegar in Tehran, Iran in 1972 and moved to New York with her family when she was 3. Graduating from Barnard College, Atoosa quickly moved up the ranks of the competitive magazine world, making CosmoGIRL! a success with a circulation of 1.25 million readers, as well as reversing a 5-year decline in Seventeen's newsstand sales.
In November 2006, Atoosa left Seventeen for new ventures in multi-media platforms including online, television, public speaking and more. "'I saw what was coming,' she said, referring to the ongoing Web-driven destruction of the teen magazine. 'What I want to do is gather my tribe--the ones reading Seventeen, and the ones who were, and grew out of it.' This tribe is 13 to 30, female, thoroughly digital, and, in Rubenstein's view, lacking an "alpha kitty" addressing their concerns and sensibility. What she brings is her big-sister, geek-gone-glam persona." Rubenstein says her brand attributes are inspiration and motivation, sisterhood, positivity, and activism.
More: Calling All Alpha Kitties by Stephanie Rosenbloom @ www.nytimes.com | Say Hello To Alpha Kitty by Jon Fine @ www.businessweek.com | Atoosa's MySpace here
Posted by Tamiko | February 12, 2008
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Tags: Literature, Media
The Untold Stories of Canadian Soul
You know we got soul!
Light in the Attic's Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk & Reggae 1967-1974 compilation series
(left pic: Lloyd Delpratt, one of the featured musicians)
Tags: Black History Month
Kama Sutra + Tao = Double the pleasure? | Lao Tzu rolls over | Edison Chen double dips
According to Jillian A. Glaeser in her article THE ASIAN BRANDING OF SEXUALITY: SEX SELLS, AND ASIAN SEX SELLS A LOT. IS IT ORIENTALISM or CULTURAL OPENNESS?, Asian sex aids are all the rage...as such, you'll find items capitalizing on this trend such as the instructional video: Kama Sutra - The Sensual Art of Lovemaking: Positions of Tao.
Glaeser states that "the video features 3 couples--including one Asian woman and a white man--demonstrating a variety of sexual positions (including snake trap, mandarin ducks, the reverse rider, and a huge bird above a dark horse) with commentary that references the Tao, occasionally intercut with illustrations of Indian figures from the Kama Sutra...The incongruous pairing of these Asian icons emphasizes this video's intention to evoke the 'Far East'." The pigeon-holed exoticism makes you shudder, no?
Should Tao and Kama Sutra be paired? Maybe better to focus on one or the other. Start with Canadian writer Jolan Chang's The Tao of Love and Sex: "2,000 years ago, at a time when the Christian West was frantically repressing sexuality, the Chinese were enjoying an erotic life that fused the sensual and the spiritual, in which sexual guilt and sexual aberrations like sadism and masochism were all but absent..." Too bad this knowledge of the Asian (male) prowess has been downplayed in North America....maybe they need to refer to the (Vancouver-reared actor) Edison Chen sex/photo scandal for reference (here) *wink*wink*
More: The Asian Branding of Sexuality; Sex sells, and Asian sex sells a lot. Is it Orientalism or cultural openness? by Jillian A. Glaeser | Jolan Chang's The Tao of Love and Sex @ amazon | Edison Chen Sex/Photo Scandal @ Shanghaiist
Posted by Tamiko | February 10, 2008
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Tags: Sexology
Hockey Day in Canada | Now in Mandarin, Hindi and Cantonese | Today
Yes, you read this right! Hockey in Chinese and Hindi. One of Canada's most celebrated cultural traditions, HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA (HDIC), will be available online in Mandarin, Hindi and Cantonese--a move to recognize the diversity of Canada's hockey fans as Chinese, South Asian, Filipino and Aboriginal viewers are some of CBC's biggest audiences.
The annual event connects Canadians to celebrations of hockey across Canada. Broadcast from Winkler, Manitoba, the 8th annual HDIC will break new ground with multi-language options available live and online exclusively at CBCSports.ca. Three back-to-back hockey games can be viewed online in Mandarin, Hindi and Cantonese:
Detroit Red Wings & Toronto Maple Leafs (CBC, 3 p.m. ET) will be available in Mandarin, with UofT students Yutong Zhao and Zhen Jiang calling the action. Watch here.
Montreal Canadiens & Ottawa Senators(CBC, 7 p.m. ET) will be available in Hindi and called by Sheridan College broadcast journalism post-graduate students Priya Sharma and Sapna Singh. Watch here.
At 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET), Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canuckswill be available online in Cantonese, with Alex Chum of Omni Television handling the play-by-play duties alongside Bill Tang. Watch here.
More: View the complete schedule of Hockey Day in Canada www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/tvschedule and www.hockeydayinwinkler.com.
Posted by Alden | February 9, 2008
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Tags: Sports
Caachi | Online Indie Films
Sundance, Shmundance. There are better ways to catch indie films...right at home. Welcome to CAACHI, a new online indie film destination where you can download award-winning, DVD-resolution indie films.
At Caachi, filmmakers can distribute online, with 75% of the sales revenue going straight to the filmmakers. "Charles Choi and Tom Hicks started Caachi to showcase great films that differ from the cookie-cutter films made for mass audiences." Ah, so smart -- *tapping finger to forehead*.
They say: "At Caachi, we've come to the conclusion that taking the traditional route of pushing a film for nationwide theatrical, broadcast, and video release costs too much for most independent filmmakers - way too much to make a real living out of it anyways. We think online distribution is the way out, where filmmakers can get better exposure and better pay for their work. Nobody (including us) right now has a complete understanding about how online film distribution should work but we at least know one thing: filmmakers need to get paid."
Be sure to check out their wide-category of films, from FREE films, to African American films, Asian American films, Animated films, Latino films, Documentaries, Erotica, Horror, and more.
More: Caachi website @ www.caachi.com | Watch some Caachi @ blip.tv | Caachi MySpace @ HERE | Sourced from Hyphen Magazine
Posted by Tamiko | February 9, 2008
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You Got Served | Kaba Modern and JabbaWockeeZ
Just as American Idol wraps up its unbearably unwatchable audition episodes, MTV is kicking off its new dance competition show: Randy Jackson Presents AMERICA'S BEST DANCE CREW, in which 9 dance crews from around the US will be battling for a $100,000 cash prize and a touring contract.
One of the teams to make the final is Kaba Modern, UC Irvine's all-Asian American street dance group, and they have the blogosphere abuzz following their electrifying live audition that drew enthusiastic praises from all 3 judges. To quote the head judge Shane Sparks: "It's like y'all took elements from every crew on the show and made your own crew and did it better than everybody else!"
Another strong contender is the masked B-Boys from San Diego, JabbaWockeeZ -- yet another (mostly) Asian American crew representing the West Coast. You might be interested to know that one of its members, Ben Chung, is a Kaba Modern alum.
More: The show premieres on February 7th at 10pm on MTV. Our Canuck readers can catch the dance craze a few days later when MuchMusic airs it on Sunday, February 10th. | Check out Kaba Modern and JabbaWockeeZ's live audition segments after the cut.
Posted by Hansol | February 8, 2008
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Lunar New Year | Year of the Rat | 12 months of plentiful prosperity and prospect ... Bring it on!
Lunar New Year is one of the world's most celebrated occasions. It's considered the largest migration of people in the world with an estimated 2 billion journeys each year!
As Chinese immigrants were "the first people recognized as celebrating (the Lunar New Year)" in North America, it is often over-simplified as "Chinese New Year" (from San Francisco Chronicle). In fact, Gung Hay Fat Choy isn't the only phrase wishing health and prosperity. Koreans around the world greet each other with Saehae Bok Mani Paduseyo; and similarly the Vietnamese version is Chuc Mung Nam Moi.
The larger than life lanterns, red and gold envelopes (filled with carefully folded brand-new bills), the sea of red paper cut outs and fake-gold figurines, and of course the noise and ruckus of the annual Chinese Lion Dance ... it's an assault on the senses. All proof that globalization is not a new thing. The overwhelming showcase of Chinese culture can easily overshadow the fact that Lunar New Year marks the beginning of Solnal, the Korean New Year, and Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. The New Year traditions are very similar, but as you may know, the cultures are distinct.
Alethea Yip said it right years ago, "Despite a number of differences, there's one common theme that takes center stage for all Asian New Year celebrations: family. No matter what the country, religion or race, New Year's Day is a time for family reunions, gatherings and reflection and reaffirming bonds." (from asianamericanbooks.com)
More: Celebrate in San Fransisco | Sydney, Australia | Montreal: Concordia Celebrates Chinese New Year and Pays Homage to Norman Bethune | South Korea | Flushing, New York | Chinese New Year Parade, Events, and Festival Information for the US and Canada here | How do Vietnamese celebrate Lunar New Year ( Tet )? here | Lunar New Year a multicultural celebration here | Media Focus on Zhang Ziyi's New Year Show-up here
Posted by Alden | February 7, 2008
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Tags: Events
wowandflutter | Decidedly Jazz Danceworks | Calgary
Dance is sexy, sexy business.
Jazz dance, that is. Jazz dance is alive, well and kicking it old skool in Calgary, Alberta, a big-small-town in the heart of the New West affectionately known as Cowtown. Ain't no cows here, though: Decidedly Jazz Danceworks keeps the groove alive in three upcoming projects: the February show, wowandflutter, the March funked up benefit party Possessed, and another full-length show in June, Tinge and Tone. If the multimedia video mashup of the dance company by HarderLee Studios (under the cut) doesn't get your booty shakin’ and your mojo pumpin', brother, you are officially dead.
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks draws on a rich history of the roots of jazz, including African dance, groove, rhythm and improv to create a thick and delicious soup of thoroughly modern vernacular. Affectionately known as DJD by friends and supporters, the dance school and company has been keeping this dance tradition alive since 1984. Dance DJD-style is hip, crazy, funky, funny and cool .
More: Read about DJD company and school | What is jazz dance? | Watch the mash up by HarderLee Studios under the cut.
Posted by nikki reimer | February 6, 2008
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Tags: Dance
Korean B-Boys and Girlz | World Champions...it's like that
The hard-hitting moves of break-dancing may have come out of the U.S., but KOREAN B-BOYS and B-GIRLS have made it their own, regularly winning urban dance competitions the world over, often beating US and Euro rivals. In fact, since 2001 Korean b-boy crews such as Last For One and Expression have continually won or finished in the Top 10 of the best of the best at the International Battle of the Year in Germany--the B-boy equivalent of the World Championships.
B-boying first arrived in Korea in the mid-'80s through hip-hop documentary Wild Style; emerged in the early '90s as Korean boy and girl bands imitated the dance moves of top US artists; and continued forward by the sweeping influence of South Korea's IT infrastructure (it has the highest penetration of broad band Internet in the world).
One top Korean b-boy is Hong10 (in pic), a member of both the Expressions crew and the Project Soul crew (a Korean all-star crew, which includes b-boys Darkness, Bruce Lee, Born, Phy6, The End, etc). He won the 2002 International Battle of the Year and served as the poster-boy for the UK B-boy Championships, an invite-only, 8-country competition. "Breaking stereotypes about Asians and Koreans in front of audiences around the world and instilling a sense of national pride amongst Korean ex-pats, Hong10 trains with a focus on mental discipline as the primary avenue to express styles in freestyle battling, the ultimate exercise in creativity."
More: Sourced from Pop that! Korean "breakdance boys" take on the world by Keiron Henderson @ Reuters AND Hong10 B Boy Champion by Linyee Yuan @ Theme Magazine | Interview with Hong 10 @ B-Boy World | See B-Boys Hong10, Bruce Lee, Project Soul Crew, Expression Crew under the cut | Photo source of Hong10 from B-Boy World | It's All About Dance @ Invest Korea Journal | Korean B-Girl Androgynous Look @ www.korean-fashion-online.com | Interview with B-Girl Ace @ here
Posted by Tamiko | February 5, 2008
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Tags: Dance
Fresh Face | Yael Naim
While French-Israeli singer YAEL NAIM isn't really a newbie, the soulful folk-pop singer is really starting to take off.
If you've seen the new MacBook Air commercials, you will have heard Naim's song "New Soul." This charming and eclectic song is only one of two English-speaking songs off of Naim's 2007 self-titled album (the other is a minimalistic and sultry cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic.")
Other songs off the album, released on the Tot ou tard label, are in French and Hebrew and reveal jazzy, folky roots. Naim's first solo album, In A Man's Womb, came in 2001.
Since "New Soul" has been featured in Mac's commercial, the song has skyrocketed to No. 5 on the iTunes singles chart. So, her seeming anonymity in North America won't be lasting for too much longer.
More: Yael Naim's website @ /www.yaelweb.com/ | Yael Naim's MySpace here | Yael Naim biography @ www.totoutard.com(en francais) | Watch Naim's video for New Soul under the cut
Posted by Michelle D. | February 4, 2008
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The Hybrid Issue | Hapa misused? | Hyphen Magazine
(Sourced from HYPHEN MAGAZINE'S HYBRID ISSUE Winter 07: Lost in Translation by Alec Yoshio MacDonald)
"Many multethnic Asian Americans [and Asian Canadians] use the term HAPA to define themselves and their identity. But some Native Hawaiians say the word is being misused and part of a mass appropriation of their culture....
...In the most basic sense, hapa means half. When Native Hawaiians and white (or haole) settlers first began producing biracial children, these offspring were referred to as being hapa haole. It's not clear when or why, but people on the mainland, and especially in California, began applying the word to individuals of partial Asian ancestry.
Some Native Hawaiian rights advocates say this newer translation is not only hollow, but hewa--wrongful. In part, the reasoning goes that a mixed-blood person is not hapa unless some of that blood flows from Native Hawaiian lineage. Although not widely known, this perspective has gained traction due in part to the website www.realhapas.com..."
More: Hyphen Magazine website @ www.hyphenmagazine.com
Posted by Tamiko | February 3, 2008
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Isuma TV | "Living Proof, Living Cultures"
"Who defines aboriginal? You do." - Norman Cohen
Lately, it seems like every new website out there wants to be the next Youtube. It's a pretty tired phrase. So, is Inuit filmmakers Zach Kunuk and Norman Cohen's video sharing website ISUMA TV the aboriginal-based Youtube?
Probably. The premise is similar: user-generated videos from Canada to Mexico to New Zealand to Sweden, with viewers all over the world. But, with Kunuk and Cohen running the website, these videos actually have to be approved for content so that burgeoning aboriginal filmmakers actually have the opportunity to let their stories and opinions be heard.
You may have heard of the duo, whose film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) gained a medal and many accolades at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The film in its entirety can be viewed at Isuma TV here (because, as nice as amateur filmmaking is, nothing beats award-winning movies). Perhaps best of all, it's there legally, so you don't have to worry about getting sued while watching it.
More:
Isuma TV website: www.isuma.tv | CBC's interview with Cohen and Kunuk here | Go here for the Isuma channel | Photo source: Scene from Atanarjuat, SOURCE)
Posted by Shaena K. | February 1, 2008
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Tags: Aboriginal, Media
World Clock Project | One tick at a time
Artsy and creative...or bored with time on their hands? Take a gander to the WORLD CLOCK PROJECT, created by New Yorkers Shaun Liu and Danny Wen from Iridesco LLC (Harvest). It's a collection of clocks from around the world...and according to Shaun and Danny:
"We find it intriguing to see a picture of a clock that is located thousands of miles away, but one which tells us the exact time of where we are right now. So we've set out to collect as many pictures of clocks as possible from as many different people as possible from around the world. Our goal is to gather enough pictures to account for all the minutes of the day. Upon accomplishing that, we will create a "digital picture clock" for the community.
Why? Because it's great fun to look at pictures of clocks from around the world. And aside from telling us the time, these pictures of unfamiliar clocks take us to a different place and remind us of the vastness of the world."
More: Email your clock photos to clocks@worldclockproject.org or join them on the World Clock Project Flickr group @ www.flickr.com/groups/worldclockproject | World Clock Project website @ www.worldclockproject.org | Sourced from
www.coolhunting.com
Posted by Tamiko | February 1, 2008
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