Before I went to see A Noise Within‘s (ANW) production of Eugene O’Neill‘s Desire Under the Elms, I bought a copy of the play and read it. Though I initially found it difficult to read because of the ambiguous country dialect the characters speak, I found the play to be fascinating. It had all the key ingredients of a good, tragic read: pride, envy, greed, a juicy incestuous love triangle.. I was curious to see how the actors would tackle the difficulty in the unusual vernacular and how the larger-than-life, nearly archetypal Greek characters would be portrayed.
Eben (Jason Dechert, middle) with half-brothers Simeon (Christopher Fairbanks, left) and Peter (Stephen Rockwell, right)
If you’re looking for some laughs this week, then head on over to Koreatown this Thursday night to the 1st ever Koreatown Comedy Festival! Along with hosts PK and Dumbfoundead, it features an all-star line-up that’s sure to liven up the night. And best of all, all proceeds go to LINK (Liberty in N. Korea) & KOLLABORATION (Empowerment Through Entertainment). So help a good cause and help yourself to a wild night!
Tickets: Presale – $11, At the Door – $15
To purchase tickets, click here
See you there!
Shay Mitchell on Seventeen Magazine via Seventeen Magazine
The Pretty Little Liars actress, Shay Mitchell graces the cover of the renowned Seventeen Magazine for the January 2012 Prom Issue. Mitchell, previously featured in our Fall ’10 Issue, models fabulous designs by Jovani whose prom line commonly consists of animal print, loud vivacious colors and bejeweled trims.
Mitchell does a great job in displaying the dresses as fun, youthful and suitable for dance-floor activity; an indirect antithesis to earlier years’ trend of puffy prom dress disasters. ABC Family’s sexy Filipino and Scottish/Irish actress cites her prom photo mantra as “always have fun,” because a smiling face always looks good on camera. With these dresses, young teens everywhere will want to do nothing else but that. At least, that is what Mitchell makes us believe with her very charming and flirtatious photo spread.
Project Runway, make room for 24 Hour Catwalk. Lifetime’s hot new reality show for fashionistas everywhere has designers scrambling to put together an entire collection in, you guessed it, 24 hours. The show is hosted by the lovely Alexa Chung, who is famous in Britain but is known as a television personality, model and writer all around the world.
Born to a three-quarters Chinese father and English mother, Alexa started as a teenage model but then went on to become a presenter on Popworld and other UK pop-culture shows. Before 24 Hour Catwalk, she hosted MTV’s Gonzo and It’s On With Alexa Chung. In 2011 alone, she appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar UK, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, British Vogue, Vogue North Korea and Teen Vogue, proving how much of a global style icon she has become. Her distinct fashion is sure to make an impact US audiences, who can see her tonight on Lifetime at 10pm.
A Q&A with Hong Kong director Ann Hui followed the January 5, 2011, Variety ArcLight Hollywood screening of A Simple Life (Tao Jie), a Best Foreign Language Film selection of the 84th Academy Awards.
Starring Andy Lau, Deanie Ip, Hailu Qin, Paul Chiang, and Wendy Yu, the foreign language film (Cantonese with English subtitles) is drawn from the life of Hong Kong producer Roger Lee, who co-wrote the script with Susan Chan. Ip, named Best Actress at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, plays Ah Tao, the Leung family’s faithful, domestic helper (amah) who has served for the past 60 years and suffers a stroke while serving Roger (played by Lau), the only family member left in Hong Kong. Roger chooses to care for Ah Tao while she’s in a nursing home and as her health deteriorates. The film, which was filmed in 30 days, unashamedly reveals the reality of growing old and life in a nursing home, and the rare bond between master and servant.
The pics are finally up! Target‘s latest collaboration is with mega designer Jason Wu (yup, the same one Michelle Obama wore for the inauguration), on sale February 5. Get going on your spring wardrobe with his feminine-chic looks. Check out the styles below:
Jason Wu styling one of his looks for his collaboration with Target.
According to Associated Press, actress Junie Hoang identified herself in a federal court filing last Friday after she had filed an anonymous, million-dollar lawsuit against Amazon and its Internet Movie Database last fall. The company had posted Hoang’s age on her IMDb profile, which Hoang claimed had led to a decrease in offers for roles. A federal judge in Seattle dismissed the lawsuit last month, stating Hoang had no grounds to proceed with an anonymous claim. Hoang, who has appeared in films such as Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver and Hoodrats 2: Hoodrat Warriors, refiled the lawsuit under her real name, Huong Hoang.
Photo via gawker.com
Watch out Glee, the Kitchen Musical is on its way to international stardom! Originally introduced to the Singaporean audience, the television musical series which aired throughout Europe and Asia has been renewed for its second season. It will also be embarking on its first international musical tour in 2012 and is in the works for broadcast in the United States.
For those of you who are unaware of the blooming drama, The Kitchen Musical brings a Glee-like approach to story telling; enriched with song and dance with the kitchen as its stage. It contributes a unique insight into the elite culinary world of restaurant business and artistry through its Asian female character Maddie Avilon, a young and rich Le Cordon Bleu post graduate who struggles to find individuality in her father’s upscale restaurant. She and her friends play up to the expectations of young adult life capturing moments of fear, love, romance, confusion and etc.
Here are some of our favorite clips from the show:
Its Youtube fans are steadily growing and prominent TV producer Ben Silverman, popular for US adaptations The Office and Ugly Betty has become involved with its creative production as co-producer. It’s actually quite amazing.
What do you think about The Kitchen Musical? Do you like it better than Glee?
Meet Patricia Serrano of Fresh Traveler.
She is doing what most of us dream of: traveling the world on someone else’s expense. Patricia’s easy breezy on-air presence mixed with some beautiful cinematography of the places she’s been to makes her videos addictive to watch.
This Thai-American travel vlogger recently made a trek to Thailand along with her videographer Brandon Li and is letting us in on her envious winter vacation. Check out the preview video below:
Check out Patricia getting her feet bitten off — err — getting cleaned below:
We asked the Fresh Traveler some questions on how she got to do what she does and some traveling advice. Check it:
How did you start your travel blog?
Fresh Traveler: After starting a spontaneous affair with a videographer I hardly knew, we whisked away on an adventure to Baja California and combined our shared passion for traveling and filmmaking. Now, I can’t get rid of him.
Why did you name it FreshTraveler?
FT: TravelAddict.com was taken and I liked the sound of a URL that had four syllables. I also wanted a name that captured what I wanted to do – a fresh and unabashed approach to travel.
Coolest place you’ve been to?
FT: Definitely Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. I saw nature inspired architecture that I swear was out of the forests of Walt Disney’s Snow White. I love the way that the Modernisme vibe of the whole city transports me to a fantastical land.
Most memorable adventure?
FT: When I was on a speedboat to Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, I was so distracted by water caves that I dropped one of my videographer Brandon’s cameras in the middle of the Andaman Sea. I felt so guilty because it’s not like I could dive into the depths of the ocean to retrieve it. Lesson learnt: always wear a wrist strap when holding a camera on a speedboat. That’s definitely something that Brandon will never let me forget.
Piece of advice for travelers?
FT: Sin gracefully.
If you’ve enjoyed Fresh Traveler’s Thailand trip so far, keep checking in, we’ll be posting more vids from them in the next coming weeks!
So here it is! The long-awaited (hey, 3 weeks is long in viral video-land) Asian American version of Sh** Girls Say has gone viral and the Youtube clip is pretty on point with its stereotypical casting of Asian American women; Hello-Kitty enthusiasts who love boba, designer hand bags, and animatingly posing for random pictures.
Although it limits the Asian American female persona to only a few social traits, it does its best to provoke a good laugh here and there. Enjoy!
