Daily Archives: May 21, 2008

Sublingual by Scott Tang

Have you seen Scott Tang’s music video Sublingual? Scott’s publicist emailed us about it. The video closed out the music video program at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival a couple weeks ago. This project was a very big group effort by the Asian American community… it was directed by Karen Lin, a very talented producer-turned-director who has worked with artists like John Legend, Death Cab For Cutie and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and recently directed the videos for Kelly Tsai’s “Bystanding” and Seriously’s “Irony.”

The video was shot in a historic Chinese restaurant in downtown Los Angeles called Chop Suey, with the support of its Chinese American owner and staff. Costumes and props were donated by East West Players and the Little Tokyo Service Center. In addition, much of the cast and crew were Asian American as well, including the lead actress and the editor. In short, they’re pretty proud to have made something like this from very little. Talk about teamwork. This is just what we need for APA Heritage Month. According to Scott’s blog AngryAsianMan and Alivenotdead.com are supporting him too. We are adding our backing to this music video too.

BTW – the music video’s visuals are very cool going back and forth between a 1930’s Shanghai scene to a modern day scene. It’s amazing what you can do within a restaurant with a good production team. Scott’s vocals are awesome We must of watched the video a dozen times before we finished this post. We look forward to more music videos from Scott Tang.

Watch Sublingual by Scott Tang

Add Scott Tang as a facebook friend

UPDATE: Here’s the lyrics for Sublingual by Scott Tang

SUBLINGUAL

These walls around me took years to construct

Built from the ground to hold anything back

But you stood before me with one empty cup

Poured from your heart til you slipped through the cracks

Terrified at once of drowning in you

Wondering if my eyes could even see the truth

Now you’re under my tongue

Baby, I know it won’t be long

Til I discover you’re all that I need

We’ve turned the corner too quickly at times

And looked to the distance instead of down at our feet

And I’ve fired too blindly and stepped cross the line

But love is changing me in more ways than I believed

Now you’re under my tongue

Baby, I know it won’t be long

Til I discover you’re all that I need

How did we get so young?

Flying high and running so strong

Will I discover you’re all that I need?

And like a flood, you’ll been running through my veins

And in my blood, I feel the pounding of your name

And I can feel the colors change

I know that in my heart I’ll never be the same

I’ll never be the same

Now you’re under my tongue

Baby, I know it won’t be long

Til I discover you’re all that I need

How did we get so young?

Flying high and running so strong

Will I discover you’re all that I need?

Will I discover you’re all that I need?

APA Month Day 21 – 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors

THE 18 MIGHTY MOUNTAIN WARRIORS grew out of a comedy ensemble called the New Godzilla Theater in residence at Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco from 1993-1994. Since its premiere production, In Deep Shabu Shabu, in September 1994, the group has written and produced a dozen feature shows, performed numerous workshop productions and benefit one-night stands around the greater Bay Area, and toured nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, arts festivals and theatrical venues. The group is also known for its various “performances” at bars and clubs in San Francisco’s Japantown and Tenderloin districts. Over the years, the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors have established themselves as a new force in Asian Pacific Islander American arts. They’ve been touted as the “Asian American version of In Living Color,” were picked as the “Smash Hit” of the 1996 Hong Kong Fringe Arts Festival (the second largest in the world after the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and were said to have “blown any episode of SNL out of the water in the past decade.” They wield their unique brand of comedy–culled from influences ranging from Monty Python’s Flying Circus to In Living Color to Culture Clash to Hong Kong slapstick comedies and action movies–both to entertain and to provoke thought about the issues that affect Asian Pacific Islander Americans. However, the cross-over appeal to non-Asian Pacific Islander American audiences is very strong as well, because the group approaches issues in a non-didactic manner and believes that laughter knows no cultural boundaries.

As artists and activists, the group seeks to explore and articulate images of Asian Pacific Islander Americans alternative to what has been perpetuated in the mainstream media. One of the group’s strategies is to push the envelope as comedic performers in both style and content, as well as to break down prevailing stereotypes and promote more positive images. Much of the group’ s impact lies in its lack of hesitation in lambasting the Asian American community itself as well. Almost all the faces of Asian America are represented, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Filipino backgrounds, allowing the group to represent a wide range of cultures and perspectives.

The 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors are:

* Harold S. Byun

* Valiant Chow

* Rhoda Gravador

* Rania Ho

* Michael Chih Ming Hornbuckle

* Todd Nakagawa

* Greg Watanabe

* Pearl Wong

* Peter J. Wong

Watch the latest 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors video:

Shutting down Asian films

APA Heritage month has been a bad month for film studios distributing international films. Over the weekend, Tartan USA announced that they are shutting down after almost four years in the USA. Tartan Video and its 101 titles are being sold by Palisades Media Asset Fund LLC. Tartan’s Asian titles include big films like Oldboy, Election, Election 2 (aka Triad Election), and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

Earlier this month, Warner Bros shut down two subsidiaries, Picture House and Warner Independent Pictures. Warner Independent Pictures brought us Eros and The Promise, while Picture House will be distributing upcoming film Mongol, Tadanobu Asano’s Genghis Khan flick.

Hopefully, other distributors like Palm Pictures, Magnolia Pictures, Lions Gate, Anchor Bay, Sony Pictures, The Weinstein Company, and Imagianasian Pictures won’t be shutting down soon. The really sad part is that the original Asian films aren’t get distributed, but Hollywood is raking in the money and Oscars with the remakes like The Ring (Japan – Ringu), The Grudge (Japan – Ju-On), and The Departed (Hong Kong – Infernal Affairs). Next remake – My Sassy Girl.

Watch the trailer for the upcoming film Mongol due out in June 6th.

Bai Ling on Crank 2

Bai Ling is filming on the set of Crank 2: High Voltage. She plays Rai, a hooker who follows the main character Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) as he hunts down the gangster who switched his real heart with an electronic time bomb. Apparently, the character Rai is a wild character, which will fits Bai Ling’s personality.

Watch footage of Bai Ling on the set of Crank 2:



Wii Fit released today

Congrats, if you are one of the people that got a Wii Fit. This game will add more fuel to the already hot Nintendo Wii console. We can’t wait to try this out. If you want to try one, the Wii Fit is going on tour around the country.

Get fit with more than 40 activities and exercises, including strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance games. Whether you’re doing a yoga pose or snowboarding down a slalom course, there’s an activity for everyone.

Watch the trailer for Wii Fit: