Dear James Franco, Hell hath no fury like a Wong scorned: Our friend Kristina Wong shares about her not-so-great, semi-soul-crushing encounter with actor James Franco, who kind of sucked it hard as co-host of last week's Academy Award ceremony. What goes around comes around, buddy.
New director puts his mark on S.F. Asian film fest: The San Francisco Chronicle's got a great profile on Masashi Niwano, the new director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, which opens this Thursday. I remember when this guy was a young intern at the Center for Asian American Media. Now he's the guy in charge of taking the festival into the future.5 Asians who are as Batshit Crazy as Charlie Sheen: Could Charlie Sheen's crazy talk about "Tiger Blood" have finally taken the attention off of Tiger Mother? I don't know, but here's another great list -- the title is self-explanatory -- from Philip over at You Offend Me You Offend My Family.
The Asian Whizkid's Sibling? The Heartthrob: People, if you haven't heard, Asians are cool now. Here's yet another one of these articles on "the new Asian American pop renaissance," with obligatory mentions of Far East Movement, America's Best Dance Crew and of course, the stars of YouTube.
Thing Three: Dr. Seuss, Rap and Racism? Dr. Seuss books were childhood favorites of mine... until I grew up and learned a thing or two about history and found out the good doctor made a shitload of racist cartoons about the Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II.
SXSW 2011: 'Surrogate Valentine' Director on His Plans For Self-Distribution: The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog has a good piece on David Boyle's indie romantic comedy Surrogate Valentine, starring Goh Nakamura, which makes its world premiere this week at the South by Southwest Film Festival. The end of article indicates that there are already plans brewing for a sequel!North Korea: A nation in the dark: Just how hermit is the Hermit Kingdom? Laura Ling, who was detained for six months inside a North Korean prison, has an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times on the incredible extent to which Pyongyang has been able to keep the vast majority of its population in the dark.
Media Takes Note of "The Hunger Games" Casting: Our friends at Racebending have got some coverage of brewing controversy over casting for the upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games. In the book, the character of Kantiss is described as having "olive skin" and "straight black hair," but casting calls appear to indicate they're just looking for -- surprise, surprise -- Caucasian actresses.