Daily Archives: August 18, 2011

Recess Court by Wong Fu Productions

Recess Court by Wong Fu Productions

What if adults argued like children? What if the courtroom operated with playground rules? Wong Fu Productions went back to their childhood days to think about how they argued back then. They decided to make a “legal drama” scene with their own twist, using elementary school insults and arguments in the place of actual litigation methods. The guys use a pretty diverse cast for this short. Here’s the cast:

Judge: Timm Carney
Gregory: Emanuel Borria (The Letters :Technology Ruins Romance, Funemployed, Dance to this Song)
Joey: Justin Hughes
Cassie: Ally Maki
Blake: Viet Nguyen
Cheryl: Mary Bogh
Music by George Shaw

See more Wong Fu Production sketches : The Screen Test, Hot Lava, and Psychic Roommates.

Recess Court by Wong Fu Productions

Bloopers for Recess Court by Wong Fu Productions

Behind the scenes of Recess Court by Wong Fu Productions

Steve Terada teaches dance moves with Sony Bloggie

Steve Terada x Sony Bloggie

Quest Crew member Steve Terada teams up with Sony. You’ve seen him bust signature moves like the Terada Swip and Snapu Swipe on So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Best Dance Crew, and in the popular Black Eyed Peas video, “Pump It.” Now, Steve partners up with Sony Electronics to give fans a behind-the-lens look through a series of dance tutorials from their point-of-view powered by a Sony Bloggie pocket video camera. Steve took to his social media channels to ask fans what tricks they wanted to see. Then shot a fun tutorial – useful for beginners or seasoned steppers alike – all using a Sony Bloggie. The results are pretty cool. Check out the tutorial below featuring moves like the House Step, Coffee Grind, Scoot, Variation into Cartwheel, and a beginner combo.

Steve Terada x Sony Bloggie

Please Vote for Me documentary

Please Vote for Me documentary

Last week, the film China Blue was online for FREE helping to mark the 20th anniversary of the Independent Television Service (ITVS), one of the largest sources of funding for independent filmmakers. In recognition of this milestone, ITVS has launched the ITVS Indies Showcase, a free online film festival running from July 25 to September 23, 2011 in honor of the extraordinary contributions of independent filmmakers to public television. The next few days, they are showing the documentary “Please Vote for Me.” Here’s more about the film:

Is democracy a universal value that suits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town in through a school, its children and its families.

Wuhan is a city about the size of London located in central China. It is here that director Weijun Chen has conducted an experiment in democracy. A Grade 3 class at Evergreen Primary School has their first encounter with democracy by holding an election to select a Class Monitor. Eight-year-olds compete against each other for the coveted position, abetted and egged on by teachers and doting parents.

Elections in China take place only within the Communist Party, but recently millions of Chinese voted in their version of Pop Idol. The purpose of Weijun Chen’s experiment is to determine how democracy would be received if it came to China.

You can watch this free online screening Thursday, August 18 – Saturday, August 20, 2011 here.

Here’s more films on China: Xmas without China, Young & Restless in China, and Made In China: The People’s Republic of Profit

Please Vote for Me documentary trailer

Jet Li rings NYSE Closing Bell

Jet Li rings NYSE Closing Bell

Today, actor Jet Li accompanied by members of the China World Champion Wushu Team, Chinese Wushu Association and International Wushu Federation, visited the New York Stock Exchange and toured the trading floor. The World Wushu Champions are in New York for a performance at the United Nations. To mark this occasion, Jet Li, joined by Mr. Qinglong He , Vice President of the Chinese Wushu Association and Mr. Yuping Zhang, Chief of the International Wushu Federation Secretariat and CWA Foreign Affairs Department, along with several Wushu Champions, rang the NYSE Closing Bell. Jet Li and the Wushu teams are actively trying to get wushu as an Olympic sport.

We might see more Asian personalities ringing the bell in the future as the U.S. drowns in debt and the European crisis is about to torpedo their economies.

Jet Li rings NYSE Closing Bell

2011 72 Hour Film Shootout Winners

2011 72 Hour Film Shootout Winners

A month after the 2011 72 Hour Film Shootout, winners from the competition have been announced. Teams has one weekend to shoot, edit, and submit their short film with the theme “NOW YOU SEE ME … ” Here’s the list announced during the 2011 NY Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF):

Grand Prize Winner: Terra Cotta by Team Floating Heads
Best Actor: Tyler Ham Pong, Team Soy Sauce Chicken – Sawaru
Best Actress: Carla Ching, Team Floating Heads, Terra Cotta
Best Director: Yasmine Gomez, Team Floating Heads – Terra Cotta
Best Editing: Derek Shimoda, Team Fish Grenade – Blue Monster
Best Cinematography: Derek Shimoda, Team Fish Grenade – Blue Monster
Most Original – Team Urban Mystics – Boxes
2nd Chance Award – KS Stevens, Team KS Stevens Productions – Katie & Kaden
Supercapitalist Story Award: Team See Yoo Wu – The Assistant and Her Lovely Magician

The short film Terra Cotta picked up wins in both Best Director and Best Actress in addition to winning the overall Grand Prize. Here’s the list of the Top 10 Teams in competition:

Team Floating Heads – Terra Cotta (Grand Prize Winner)
Team Blue Core – Subject 47 (1st Runner Up)
Team See Yoo Wu – The Assistant and Her Lovely Magician (2nd Runner Up)
Team Fish Grenade – Blue Monster
Team Lee Kim – A Letter From The Yearbook
Team Imua! Theater + Film Company – Dead End
Team Twelve One Studios – Truth*
Team KIS,S – Keen Study
Team MeetUp – The Mark
Team Soy Sauce Chicken – Sawaru

Terra Cotta by Team Floating Heads (Grand Prize Winner)

Subject 47 by Team Blue Core (1st runner up)

The Assistant and Her Lovely Magician by Team See Yoo Wu (2nd runner up)

The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 with Korilla BBQ Truck

The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 with Korilla BBQ Truck

This past Sunday, The Great Food Truck Race returns for a second season this summer with more – more teams, more cities, more grueling challenges and more prize money. The series features eight of the top food trucks in the country battling for a life-changing $100,000 grand prize, double the cash prize awarded in season one. The trucks spend one wild weekend in each city not only selling specialties from their mobile kitchens, but also competing in extreme challenges like butchering their own meat for barbecue in Memphis and foraging the mountains of Denver for wild mushrooms. Season two also amps up the action with special guest stars, including Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts and NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback John Elway. In the end, culinary chops, strategy and moxie will determine who wins the ultimate food truck prize.

In the season premiere, the teams start at the picturesque Malibu Pier and sends them on their first Truck Stop Challenge: to create an inventive dish with one lobster and all the farmer’s table ingredients they can hold. After award-winning chef and food truck operator Susan Feniger chooses the winner, the trucks head to Las Vegas and are confronted with their first Speed Bump – the host Tyler spins a large wheel containing numerous food truck problems and lands on ‘out of propane,’ so the teams must proceed without use of this necessary fuel. At the end of two days in Vegas, the team that sells the least is sent on the road home. The cross-country route then takes the teams to Salt Lake City; Denver; Manhattan, Kan.; Memphis and Atlanta where the competition intensifies with more grueling challenges – leading up to the final battle between the two top trucks in sun-splashed Miami.

Among the food trucks competing is the Korilla BBQ Truck from New York.
The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 with Korilla BBQ Truck

Korilla BBQ, which stands for Korean + Grill, is the brainchild of Columbia University graduate Edward Song. After graduating during the country’s economic downturn, he found himself thinking outside the box — unexpectedly enrolling in cooking school and taking his passion for Korean food to the streets of New York City. His high school friends Stephan Park and Paul Lee have been with the truck since day one, and together they have made Korean food accessible to the masses in a fast and convenient way.

Last season, the Nom Nom Truck came close to taking the first The Great Food Truck Race. The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on the Food Network.

The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 with Korilla BBQ Truck