May, 2013

New Asian film titles have been added to Hulu in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

Hulu's Chinese, Japanese and Korean libraries now include:

Korean Titles:

Korean Dramas: Launching are My Sassy Girl (dir. Jae-Young Kwaek), 200 Pounds Beauty (Young-Hwa Kim), and action drama Crying Fist (Seung-Wan Ryoo with Oldboy’s Min-Sik Choi).
Korean Cannes Selections: Hahaha, Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (Sang-Soo Hong), and A Brand New Life (Ounie Lecomte).

Additionally, the famed Oldboy trilogy is available on Hulu Plus until June 30th. The sci-fi cult classic is about a man determined to find his kidnapper who imprisoned him for 15 years. The film has been recognized at numerous festivals, and took home the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes in 2004.  Enter the world of director Chan-Wook Park with Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance.

Chinese Titles

Chinese dramas, such as Love In a Puff (Ho-Cheung Pang), The Soul Of Bread (Pin-Chuan Kao), and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (Johnnie To) make their Hulu debut in the Chinese film category as well.

Japanese Titles: Criterion Collection features masterpieces by Akira Kurosawa, Masaki Koboyashi and 

Hollywood

May 22, 2013

Legendary music producer/composer Quincy Jones turned 80 this year and he's still going strong. His latest endeavors include representing young talent including K-Pop style Asian girl group Blush. Click here for the story by James McKinley, Jr. at the New York Times.

Girl group Blush includes talents from five Asian countries, Ji Hae Lee from South Korea, Alisha Budhrani from India, Natsuko Danjo from Japan, Victoria Chan from Hong Kong/China and Angeli Flores from the Philippines. Quincy executive produced Blush's new single "Warrior." Click here to view the music video. 

On a separate note, Quincy Jones was interviewed for a documentary about Ben Fong-Torres, the legendary rock journalist and former senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine. The documentary is being directed by Suzanne Joe Kai. Thanks Quincy! 

Ben Fong-Torres sang a Bob Dylan song on network television some years ago. While he might not get into costume as Dylan this time, he is going to make a rare appearance tomorrow singing Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley songs. Don't miss! Log on live online at WCL.org at 10AM PST Saturday July 6, 2013! 

Update July 7, 2013

Ben's performance can be heard online at West Coast Live's archives on KALW public radio 91.7 FM San Francisco for one week after the show. 

Tune In Live at 10am PST Saturday July 6, 2013!

Tomorrow!! From the Rock 'n' Roll man himself! -

Don't miss Ben Fong-Torres as he sings Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley songs tomorrow morning!

Log On to WCL.org to hear Ben's special appearance tomorrow on Sedge Thomson's West Coast Live show at 10am Pacific Standard Time.

Rumor has it that Ben, and friends including musician/author Sam Barry are the opening act! So, tune it right at 10am tomorrow!

Two ways to see Ben sing:

1. Log on to WCL.org to hear Ben sing live online at WCL.org

or

2. Attend Sedge Thomson's West Coast Live Show In person at the Ferry Building in San Francisco! (tickets at WCL.org)

July 18, 2013

Credits: Scene from Fung Bros Comedy/AJ Rafael Youtube video "Asians Eat Weird Things"

 We love food, great talent, cool music and videos at AsianConnections.com, so when we saw this video about Asian food on Youtube we had to share "Asians Eat Weird Things" with you. Its fun, and its already garnered 300,000 views since its launch July 5. 

Congrats to the video's creators: Rapper/comedian brothers Andrew and David Fung producers of the Youtube Channel Fung Bros Comedy, singer/songwriter AJ Rafael, and director Jason Poon.

Andrew and David Fung have been producing videos about Asian American culture on topics from Boba Tea to NBA basketball player Jeremy Lin. The brothers are originally from the Seattle area, and are now located in Monterey Park in Southern California.

Check out Andrew and David's blog and other videos at Youtube.com and at www.fungbrothers.com 

The video features vocals by AJ Rafael. Arthur Joseph "AJ" Rafael is a singer/songwriter from Moreno Valley, California with his own popular Youtube channel. AJ has just released a new single "Jetsetter" and music video which is available on iTunes. AJ's Facebook page announced that he is going on tour this August. Visit matchmakertour.com or his website http://www.ajrafael.net for his schedule.

Click here from the homepage to the full story and Youtube.com video.

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