NewsBytes

Monday, June 13, 2011

Word from around the way

Taika Waititi: Who is the “Pieface” in Green Lantern?

On June 7th, I had the privilege of checking out a press screening of Warner Brothers’ Green Lantern which opens in theaters on June 17th. Within this film are two Pacific Islander actors who play significant roles in this blockbuster film: Taika Waititi and Temuera Morrison, an actor who has never appeared in any American films and the other actor you may recall playing Jango Fett in Star Wars, Episode II. Both of these actors did a grand job with the roles given to them.

Sylvester Stallone's Next Co-Star: Sung Kang!

The untitled film, directed by Walter Hill and based on the crime noir graphic novel Bullet to the Head, follows a New Orleans hitman and a New York City cop who team up to take down the killers of their respective partners. It says Stallone is starring as the hitman, but there's no indication if Sung is the cop [...]

Review of Maxine Hong Kingston's 'I Love a Broad Margin to My Life'

[...] Maxine Hong Kingston’s latest memoir, I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, attempts to deconstruct the memoir by playing on the central tension between preservation and erasure. Written as a sprawling, globe-hopping long poem, Broad Margin opens with Kingston approaching her 65th birthday and at first appears as an elegiac meditation on aging. It’s soon clear, however, that Kingston is thinking deeply about the act of writing itself. She considers the possibility of a writing practice -- like Song’s -- whose sole intent is not preservation or reflection, but to live in the ephemeral present. “I sit here writing in the dark,” Kingston writes, “can’t see to change these penciled words.” And later: “This well-deep outpouring is not for / anything.”

Friday Fuckery: The Hangover Part II Review

I caught The Hangover Part II this past weekend, and as to be expected from any bro-code comedy set in Bangkok, it’s chock full o’ delightful Asian-related wit and wisdom.Child prostitution joke? Check. Thai ladyboy hookers? It went there. THERE. As in, you see errrrryything. And there’s a healthy dose of nekkid ass nekkid shots of Thai strippers in the ending credits, to make sure you get your $11 bucks worth of exotic muffs ‘n’ weiners ‘n’ such (including the fabled ping-pong ball trick).

The Last Detail

I'd like to apologize to you fellow blogizens one last time for my MIA these last few months.Good news or bad news first? Bad news. This is my last post on The Minority Militant blog. No more pity parties here. I'm dry. This is it. My life is moving on from unfavorable circumstances and I'm leaving this wonderful blog in the middle of the web until it dissolves. Good news. Firstly, I will continue to blog. Just not over here. I am moving on to a more professional platform. I can assure -- and even guarantee -- you that you will see me again very soon in the near future.

An Open Letter to the Asian American Graduates of the Class of 2011 Aspiring to be Artists

Some of you have already graduated in recent weeks while others of you will do so very shortly, but you all collectively stand on the precipice of the exciting, next phase of your young lives…unemployment and moving back into your parents’ basement. So let me offer some advice as you navigate your way through the “real world” and pursue your dream of being an artist—whether it be a painter, writer, actor, director, musician or whatever it is the Kardashians do. You may be wondering what makes me qualified to give such advice? Well, frankly, nothing. But I am older than you–not so old that it’d be weird if you’re still in your sexual experimentation phase and wanted to play “Korean traveling salesman knocks on door of bored and randy housewife,” but old enough to know what a traveling salesman actually is—and age experience counts for something.

Sylvie Kim Tumblr

I've seceded to the Cool Kids Side over at Tumblr. Thanks for reading my posts during my years of (embarrassing) development as a writer. If you find it in your hearts to redirect your Google Reader and other feeds to the new site, I'd appreciate it greatly.

Korea's Got Talent: Sung-Bong Choi

Orphaned at the age of three and left to fend for himself starting from the age of FIVE, Sung-Bong Choi sold gum and Bacchus drinks on the street to survive. He did not attend school until high school, and during his many nights wandering alone through the city, he listened in on vocal lessons to learn how to sing.