Entertainment

Hat Tip for Chef Seng’s Upcoming New Restaurant, Thip Khao

By Daphne Domingo Washington, DC – The rumors are true and the plaster is on the wall. Local chef, Seng Luangrath, will transport some of her famed authentic Laotian food from the hidden menus of Bangkok Golden in Seven Corners to Columbia Heights in the District. The new restaurant, Thip Khao (Lao for sticky rice basket) is still waiting finalizing …

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Pianist Haochen Zhang Makes his Washington Orchestral Debut, He and Conductor both Child Prodigies, to Perform Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Concerto

Bethesda, MD (March 16, 2015) — The National Philharmonic welcomes Haochen Zhang, the award-winning 24-year-old Chinese pianist, as he makes his Washington, D.C. orchestral debut under the baton of Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski. Both former child prodigies, Zhang and Gajewski present a dazzling program: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, and with Zhang’s solo the ultimate Romantic piano …

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Asian Americans Say TV’s ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ Can Fight Stereotypes, and It’s Funny, Too

The reviews and the ratings are in for ABC-TV’s “Fresh Off the Boat,” which officially premiered on Feb. 10, and as a saying goes, “We have a winner!” TV by the  Numbers ran a story with the headline, “ABC’s ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ Debuts as Season’s #1 New Show with Upscale Adults 18-49.” The Hollywood Reporter noted, “After its strong …

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Chef Erik Bruner-Yang Presents an Asian Boutique Grocery Inside Union Market

  Washington, DC – No longer do DC residents have to cross the river or other state lines to pick up authentic Asian items. Toki Underground’s Erik Bruner-Yang has opened up a local-oriented and specially-curated Asian market inside the culinary landmark, Union Market. The shop is a great resource for shoppers who may be unable or are just unwilling to …

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Horseshoe Casino Baltimore Holds Grand Opening of the Asian Gaming Room

  By Corih Kim   On August 26, 2014, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore held a Grand Opening of its facilities in Baltimore, Maryland. The casino features 2,500 video lottery terminals, 122 table games, and 25-table World Series of Poker-branded room amid 122,000 square feet of gaming space. However, it wasn’t until a week and a half later, on September 6, when …

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2014 KORUS

“The KORUS Festival is organized by the Korean American Association of Washington Metropolitan Area (KAAW), a non-profit 501(c) organization with the support of local communities, the Korean Embassy DC, and local organizations. For over a decade, the KORUS Festival has gathered people of diverse backgrounds and heritage in celebration of Korean culture. This year’s festival included performances of Korean music, …

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Asian Festival 2014: “Experience, Explore & Enjoy”

By Corih Kim As the biggest Asian Festival in the Mid-Atlantic area, and continues to grow each year, as more participants and attendees partake in the celebration of East, Southeast, and South Asian cultures. The Asian Festival DC 2014 showcased the diverse Southeast Asian cultures, focusing on Thailand, Philippine, India, China, and Vietnam. The festival featured a main stage and …

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Youtube Star Michelle Phan Faces Lawsuit Over Music

By Gaylord Garcia Michelle Phan, a Youtube star and a beauty guru with more than 6.7 million channel subscribers is getting sued by Ultra Records – an Electronic Dance Music label – for copyright infringement. Ultra Records filed the lawsuit on July 18th, 2014 claiming Phan allegedly used music from the label’s artists in her YouTube makeup tutorial videos without …

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DC APA Film: Raising Asian Pacific American Media to New Heights

By Vania Cao The 2014 APA Film Festival will be short and sweet. Breaking from its usual tradition of a seven or ten day festival, this year’s festival will be a three-day affair. Asian Pacific American Film (APA Film) is a nonprofit, all-volunteer run organization established in 2000, with the mission of directing attention to the creative energy of the Asian …

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New Upscale Restaurant Blends Japanese with French Cuisines

By Heidi Zheng Photo credit to Crane & Turtle Tucked in a quiet neighborhood of Columbia Heights, Crane & Turtle is star restaurateur Paul Ruppert’s new joint on Georgia Avenue. Unlike his other ventures, such as Petworth Citizen & Reading Room, both of which feature mainly American fares, Crane & Turtle brands itself as French-Japanese fusion, a rarity if not …

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Dis/orient/ed Comes to D.C. and Packs Navy Memorial Theater

By Jenny Chen “The truth is funny. Honest discovery, observation, and reaction is better than contrived invention,” wrote Del Close and Charna Halpern in their book Truth in Comedy. On June 6, 2014, Dis/oriented Comedy presented an uproariously funny, honest, and thought-provoking show about being Asian American to a full house at The Burke Theater and the U.S. Navy Memorial. …

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The James Wong Howe Story: Two time Academy Award-winning Chinese American cinematographer

By Yi Chen Born Wong Tung Jim in Canton, China on August 28, 1899, James Wong Howe, as he was known in America, is considered one of the greatest cinematographers in the history of motion pictures.  His films, Algiers (1938), Kings Row (1942), The Old Man and the Sea (1958), Seconds (1966) and Funny Lady (1975), all received Academy Award …

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Q & A: Jia Zhangke on His New Film “A Touch of Sin”

By Yi Chen Named one of the 100 “Leading Global Thinkers of 2013” by Foreign Policy for “using art to show how inequality breeds violence”, awarded Best Screenplay for his new film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival – it’s been a high-profile year for Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. Like most of his feature films, A Touch of Sin is …

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Documentary Film Mulberry Child Moves Mothers and Daughters to Tears

Film based on a memoir of two generations of Chinese Americans explores history and present By Tamara Treichel “No matter what storm comes, don’t break,” Jian Ping’s grand­mother told her. “You must be strong, like the mulberry tree.” Jian took her grandmother’s words to heart while growing up during China’s chaotic Cultural Revolution (1966-76), and wished to become a “mulberry child.” …

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For the Play Yellow Face, Comedy is a Way of Talking About Serious Issues

By Yi Chen The A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race) series is a monthly open discussion produced and hosted by Busboys and Poets. The February series featured Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, who talked about his own experience as an Asian American as well as his play Yellow Face, a comedy about mistaken racial identity. “I began writing because …

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