So I’ve plugged this movie before and I’ve said it’s a lot of laughs. Y’all should check it while it’s in theaters!

So who likes ping pong? I’ve got a Ping Pong Playa set for you! If you want the paddle and ping pong balls pictured above, email me with your Mailing Address and you shall receive (U.S. only, sorry)! But wait, let’s make this fun…

Also, email me a caption for the following photo. It could be anything… make it funny ;P Email to: grace@peachies.net

Deadline is this Friday, September 12. I’ll post up the winning caption the following Monday.

Hmm… what could they be saying to each other?

Official site: pingpongplaya.com
(released by IFC Films)

+++

Ping Pong Playa is screening at the following theaters (jacked from AAM):

NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)

SAN JOSE
CAMERA 12 DOWNTOWN
201 SOUTH SECOND STREET
SAN JOSE, CA 95113
BUY ADVANCE TICKETS AT CAMERACINEMAS.COM

I got a nice a little present in the mail today from some industry friends… the special edition DVD for Forbidden Kingdom. Cool. I’ve yet to see it, but I’ve heard positive reviews despite some negative views on the protagonist being Caucasian…

You ever wonder? Is it only Asian Americans who feel so adamantly negative about the whole Caucasian in Asian story issue (i.e. Last Samurai)? Do Asians in Asia care? I wonder sometimes…

Anyway, for those who are both Jet Li and Jackie Chan fans, this movie release must’ve been exciting since it was the first film to have both stars in one. I always thought Jet Li was adorable. Haha. And Jackie Chan’s pretty funny. How I feel about the lead being a Caucasian dude? I don’t really care as long as long as it makes sense in the story.

For those of you who want to rent/buy the movie on DVD or Blu-ray Disc, it’ll be out next Tuesday, 9/9/08.

Here’s a synopsis:

In modern-day Boston, Jason (Michael Angarano, TV’s “Will & Grace”), a teenage Kung Fu movie enthusiast, purchases a bootleg DVD from his favorite shopkeeper, Old Hop. When a local bully forces Jason to help rob Old Hop, Jason escapes with an old golden staff that magically transports him to ancient China. He is soon rescued from the forces of the Jade Warlord by Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), a raggedy wanderer whose wine-guzzling ways conceal his Kung Fu mastery. Yan, along with the Silent Monk (Jet Li), reveals that Jason is the fabled Seeker who must return the staff to the Monkey King (also played by Li), in order to stop the warlord from carrying out his evil plans. Yan and the Silent Monk join forces to teach Jason the ways of the Kung Fu warrior so he can save their world and return to his own.

http://www.forbiddenkingdommovie.com

Sounds like this is going to be a wild evening…

WWW.INTERNATIONALSECRETAGENTS.COM

EVENT INFO:

Sept 7th - International Secret Agents Concert
Location: San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
320 South Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA, 91776
Time: 4:30pm-9:30pm
**ALL AGES EVENT**

-Showcasing the new generation of Asian American Talent breaking through to mainstream media

Line up:
FAR EAST MOVEMENT (FM) - (National Radio spins for “Lowridin” and “You’ve Got A Friend”) - Hip Hop
WONG FU PRODUCTIONS (Cannes Film Festival) - Film Producers
QUEST DANCE CREW (Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”, American Idol) - Dance Crew
PAUL DATEH (2 Million Youtube Views - Violinist for Living Legends) - Hip Hop Violinist
TATUM JONES (America’s Got Talent) - R&B Group
MAGNETIC NORTH - Hip Hop
JENNIFER CHUNG - (5 Million Youtube Views) - Acoustic

Special Guest Presenters:
Sung Kang (Fast n Furious 4, Ninja Assasin)
YESI ORTIZ - Power 106
Power 106 Mixers and Street Team

MORE CELEBRITY GUESTS WILL BE ADDED!

AUTOGRAPH SIGNING WILL BE HELD DIRECTLY AFTER THE EVENT AT THE MERCHANDISE BOOTHS.
Press and Media Coverage at event.

PRESALE TICKET INFO:

$15 ($25 at the door) - General Admission

$45 ($55 at the door) - VIP Tickets
-VIP/ No Waiting in line for entry into the show
-Priority line for Autograph Sessions for all artists
-Autographed Poster from event

$90 ($100 at the door) - Backstage Access/Vip
-Private VIP Backstage Lounge with Free drinks and food.
-Backstage Access (Before, during and after event)
-Autographed Poster from event
- Dance Like Michael Jackson Tee Shirt
-VIP/ Priority Entrance To event

Visit www.internationalsecretagents.com for information on purchasing tickets.

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is now accepting submissions for its 25th anniversary edition set for April 30 through May 7, 2009. The Film Festival, a production of Visual Communications, is the largest event of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area and provides a showcase for feature-length and short works by Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema artists. Complete entry guidelines will be available at vconline.org starting this Friday, Sept. 5 at 5 p.m. PDT.

Hey all, John Cho’s hitting the stage with his band, Viva La Union (formerly Left of Zed). This Saturday, they’ll be playing their first show in awhile at Café-Club Fais Do-Do. They’ve invited Jason Arimoto, blues ukulele player, and Sam Geunjin Kang, hip hop guitarist to perform as well. Should be a really good show.

More info: myspace.com/vivalaunionmusic

These guys rock. Please help us spread the word some more. Michelle still needs a bone marrow donor!

Special thanks to Arnel Calvario, Jia Huang, Yuri Tag, Cindy Minowa, Mike Song, and Lawrence Kao for working with us to make this happen and to Tony Hoang, Arden Cho, Angela Quan, Michael Velasquez, and June Lee for getting my back on this.

ProjectMichelle.com

Kollaboration Acoustic 2 was awesome. Started out kinda hectic for me cuz’ I was trying to figure out some details for the Project Michelle segment of the show and then I clumsily went and spilled wine all over my lap right before PK intro’d me and I had to stand up in front of the entire audience (scary). Luckily, I had a clipboard in my lap which shielded things for the most part.

Seriously though… the talent pool has grown so much in the past years with Asian American artists and Kollaboration is a true testament to that. Last year at the Orpheum blew my mind away. And yesterday, at the Ford, only their 2nd Acoustic show ever… wow, there were so many talented artists whom I had never heard of but am glad to have been exposed to, including the Grand Prize winner, Jane Lui… who I got to talk to for a lil’ bit afterwards and was really sweet! I think the highlights of the night for me were: Darren Carter (hilarious comedian), Ken Oak Band (awesome as always), Jason Arimoto (rocked the ukulele and had awesome steez), Jane Lui , and Paul Dateh (talk about blowing away minds).

PK, Roy, and the whole Kollaboration staff continue to impress and inspire me. Special thanks to Christine, Jane, Renee, and Lingie, too :]

The camera on my Blackberry Curve is not so great. Closing act, YouTube phenomenon, Paul Dateh with guitarist, Ken Belcher:

P.S. - By the end of the night, Project Michelle registered 143+ new potential donors at Kollaboration (breaking Kollaboration’s previous record). Yay!!! Let’s hope a match turns up soon!

Yes, I did. At the Rock Band tourney a few weekends ago. Wow. I know. I suck at recapping in a more immediate manner

Greatest rock band ever, 2 Kilograms (2kgs=KarinKathyGraceScott):

Makeup and outfit courtesy of Kathy Uyen. Photo courtesy of Scott Tang.

Random tangent: Karin Anna Cheung says I need a new profile photo on Alive Not Dead. Yah… I do… haha. Oh btw… for those of you who have the urge to leave me comments, you can do so here on AnD (you have to be registered though).

In more recent personal news:

It’s official. I got baptized this past Sunday. It just means I decided to tie the knot with the Lord and live the rest of my life with Him. Doesn’t mean I’m holier, cuz’ I’m not. It’s been almost three years since I accepted Christ (I guess you could say we’d been dating for awhile and I was a little scared to get more serious). For those who know me personally, you might know that I once considered myself Atheist. A lot of things have happened since then and I believe now… for a reason. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the life ahead! An earthquake like the one that just happened today near LA ain’t gonna scare me

Next up… Kollaboration Acoustic 2 + Project Michelle drive this Saturday at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood! Come watch a great show and register (if you haven’t already) to donate marrow for a chance to save Michelle’s life.

Asian Stories
Friday, July 25, 2008 @ the ImaginAsian Center

I saw this at VC two years ago and it was a lot of fun. I’ll be at the theater this Friday to see it again!

Official Website: asianstoriesmovie.com | ImaginAsian: iacenterla.com/la

Kollaboration Acoustic 2
Saturday, August 2, 2008 @ The Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood

I’ve been invited to be one of the Guest Judges, so maybe I’ll see you there. Sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun… first outdoor Kollabo = bring out the picnic baskets! Better hurry and get your tickets though… last I heard, the event is almost sold out.

Official Website: kollaboration.org

Ping Pong Playa
in theaters September 5, 2008

I saw this at Opening Night at LAAPFF this year. It’s a feel good popcorn movie that revolves around a quirky Chinese American guy who daydreams about playing for the NBA but ends up carrying his family’s legacy of Ping Pong.

Here’s the official trailer:

Official Website: pingpongplaya.com

Uh… this is a little late, but I guess after recovering from festival time and then going through all this random personal stuff, I just didn’t have a whole lot of time to blog about this earlier.

So! For those who didn’t know, last year, I was invited to curate the 1st-ever program dedicated to the music video for the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. I think last year I only had like a month to curate. Lol (it was nuts). This year, I got to curate again (w/ a whole year to curate~ phew) and we decided to extend our reach outside of the U.S. (big shout out to AliveNotDead.com for hooking it up w/ some videos from Asia).

During the selection process, I saw a wide variety of videos. I actually had to do a lot of scouting like last year. I think many people didn’t/don’t know we have a music video program. So I have to thank YouTube for being so handy during those couple of months. Mucho thanks to Abe Ferrer, Angela Makabali, and Maya Santos for helping me a great deal with getting everything together, too!

Come show time in May, the program sold out and we had a huge turnout of filmmakers in the house! We also had a very productive Q&A no thanks to me as the audience members really had some great questions to ask!

(that’s me behind the podium w/ a crapload of filmmakers on the stage)

Yikes, Asia Pacific Arts even talks about the program here.

Anyway, for those of you who missed it on the big screen, I can only show you what you missed via YouTube (there are a total of 15 videos):

Full program listing here.

And that concludes my recap on that. For all you Asian Pacific / Am music video makers out there, watch out for ‘09 Call for Entries. I’m expecting to see lots of great work again :]

P.S. - I guess I should recap the live music event / afterparty that followed. Turnout was great, I believe a lot of people enjoyed themselves, but the one thing that sucked was that the place was just not meant for live music (especially the kind of live music we planned for). The following picture may describe it all… mellow acoustic rock and a stripper pole (why?! it wasn’t there when I scouted out the venue…). Also, what you can’t see is all the chaos going on opposite the performance… noise of a busy bar.

Lucky for me, Scott Tang, Karin Anna Cheung, and Big Phony (pictured above) are all just so freakin’ awesome. They handled the situation like the pros that they are. My emcees, Hans and Mike from Tatum Jones and Kathy Uyen were also super. I especially liked it when Kathy yelled at the chatty mouths to “shut the f*ck up.” Hahaha. Despite all that, we ended up all having a good time and getting tacos next door, which is always a good way to end a night.