Stand Back, Move Along, Nothing to See Here, Just Murder

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



What We Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis
"I can't breathe." George Floyd died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer's knee. By now, you've seen or heard about the video of the incident. Let's not pretend that an Asian American officer wasn't one of the cops who stood watch while Floyd was murdered.

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Kumail Nanjiani, Lulu Wang, Hasan Minhaj, More Get Candid About Success, Failure - and Abs - in Hollywood
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Variety gathered prominent AAPI creatives Kumail Nanjiani, Hasan Minhaj, Jon M. Chu, Ally Maki and Lulu Wang for a lively discussion about what it means to be successful in the entertainment industry, how their parents and family regard their careers, who their industry role models were as they came up and what what being successful means for AAPIs in the industry going forward.

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Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You is Being Adapted for TV
Annapurna Television has won the rights to adapt Everything I Never Told You, the bestselling debut novel from Celeste Ng, as a television limited series. The book explores the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle to understand each other over a lifetime. Set in a small town in 1970s Ohio, protagonist Lydia is the adored but put-upon child of Marilyn and James Lee. When her body is found in a local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, sending them into chaos.

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I Will Make You Mine
The movie I Will Make You Mine, written/directed/produced by and starring Lynn Chen, is now available on DVD and VOD. The semi-sequel to Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings, the indie feature centers on three women (Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani, Yea-Ming Chen) who wrestle with life's difficulties while confronting their past relationships with the same man (Goh Nakamura). It's a bittersweet story of growing up while continuing to reach for the familiar, all set to the real-life soundtrack of Goh Nakamura and Yea-Ming Chen.

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Fresh Off the Boat & Kim's Convenience Live Table Reads
This is going to be fun. Fresh Off the Boat and Kim's Convenience were breakthroughs for Asians on prime time television. Now, the casts of both shows are uniting for one night only -- to read their historic pilot episodes live, to raise support for Asian American / Asian Canadian arts during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The live stream is happening Saturday, May 30, 8pm PT / 11pm PT, on Seed and Spark.

They Call Us Bruce - Episode 99: They Call Us Lynn Chen

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

On this episode, we welcome Lynn Chen, who wrote, directed, produced and stars in the movie I Will Make You Mine. She talks about getting the "band" back together, the song that almost busted her budget, and completing the lowest budget movie trilogy ever.

Here's Where You Can Report COVID19-Related Hate Incidents

And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.



Stop AAPI Hate
If you have witnessed or experienced coronavirus-related micro-aggressions, bullying, harassment, hate speech, or violence, use this form to report it. In the two weeks since its launch, Stop AAPI Hate has received more than 650 reports. Some emerging trends: Women are three times more likely to report harassment than men; 61% of respondents are non-Chinese; verbal harassment/name calling is the most commonly reported type of discrimination, making up 2/3 of all reports; Asian Americans are more likely to face coronavirus discrimination in public and at businesses, especially grocery stores, pharmacies and big box retail stores.

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FBI Warns of Potential Surge in Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans
Federal law enforcement is warning of an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans as the coronavirus crisis continues to grow, according to a new FBI analysis. "The FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations," according to the intelligence report, which was compiled by the FBI’s Houston office and distributed to local law enforcement agencies across the country.

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Reward Offered for Information on Naperville Battery
Police in Naperville, Illinois are trying to identify two women involved in the battery of a jogger last Saturday, March 21. What this article doesn't say, I'm told, was that the victim was an older Asian man and they yelled "Go back to China" while attacking him. Somebody, please catch these racists.

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I Will Make You Mine
Pre-order the indie film I Will Make You Mine. Written and directed by Lynn Chen, the film re-visits the characters from Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings, following three women who wrestle with life's difficulties while confronting their past relationships with the same man. Available on May 26.

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Isa Briones - "Blue Skies"
No spoilers, but here's Isa Briones performing a cover of "Blue Skies," as heard in the Star Trek: Picard finale.

The Creator of the Famous 'Konami Code' Has Died

Things to Know From Angry Asian America



Kazuhisa Hashimoto, creator of the famous ‘Konami Code,’ has died
Up. Up. Down. Down. Left. Right. Left. Right. B. A. Start. It’s the most famous sequence of button pushes in video game history, and its creator, Kazuhisa Hashimoto, has died. He was reportedly 61.

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Elderly Man Robbed Of Recycling In SF's Bayview-Hunters Point Identified
Police in San Francisco announced that investigators have identified the man who was threatened and attacked over the weekend as he was robbed of recycling he had collected in Bayview-Hunters Point.

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Bellevue College apologizes after administrator alters mural depicting Japanese American internment
Bellevue College has apologized after one of its vice presidents altered a mural of two Japanese American children in a World War II incarceration camp by whiting out a reference to anti-Japanese agitation by local businessmen in the accompanying artist description. Created by Seattle artist Erin Shigaki, the art installation "Never Again Is Now" includes an 11-foot-tall mural of two children photographed at a California incarceration camp. Last week, professors were notified that someone had removed one sentence in a paragraph about Japanese immigrants and their connection to Bellevue.

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Olivia Liang Cast as Lead of CW's 'Kung Fu' Reboot
Olivia Liang will star as the lead in the pilot of CW's reimagining of the 1970s TV show Kung Fu. In the new series, written by Christina M. Kim, a quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman, Nicky Chen, to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice -- all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.

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I Will Make You Mine
Ahead of its world premiere next month at SXSW, here is the trailer for I Will Make You Mine, the directorial debut from our friend Lynn Chen. The film follows three characters: Rachel (Chen), who lives in luxury with her cheating husband; Professor Erika (Ayako Fujitani), who is trying her best to juggle her career and raising her daughter Sachiko (Ayami Riley Tomine); and struggling musician Yea-Ming Chen (who plays a version of herself). They all may have different lives, but they share one common bond: a flawed romantic history with singer-songwriter Goh Nakamura(who also plays a version of himself). As seen in the trailer above, when Goh comes back into their lives, the past comes back and makes things a tad bit complicated. The film will be released on May 26 from Gravitas Ventures.

Fund This: 'I Will Make You Mine'

Lynn Chen makes her directorial debut with the sequel to 'Surrogate Valentine' and 'Daylight Savings.'



Here's a film project that could use your crowdfunded generosity.

I was pretty excited to hear about I Will Make You Mine. Not only is it the final installment of a trilogy -- the sequel to the fan favorite indie features Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings -- it marks the directorial debut of my good friend Lynn Chen, who also wrote, produces and stars in the film.

2011's Surrogate Valentine and 2012's Daylight Savings, written and directed by Dave Boyle, followed the life, love and friendships of indie musician Goh Nakamura, who played a version of himself. Six years later, I Will Make You Mine shares the perspective of three women who are romantically linked to Goh, as they maneuver in to their 40s and face major life changes.

"I never set out to become a writer, director, or producer," Lynn says. "But somehow this film, about growing older and re-examining our past relationships, called out to me. And I could not have told this particular story at any other time in my life."