Last Tuesday, I got the chance to catch up with Quest Crew after the live taping of episode two. If goes without saying that all the members of Quest Crew are extremely talented individuals, but after speaking with them, I can safely add a few things more to the list: hilarious, friendly, humble, fun-loving, down to earth, determined, adorably boyish—okay, I’ll stop there… More »

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Konnichiwa, recessionistas. This week, Forever 21 officially launches its ‘Shibuya Mon Amour’ collection of tanks and tees, allegedly inspired by the “cool kids of Paris and Tokyo.” Looking at what’s available to purchase online, it may be safe to say that the “cool kids” are rocking the animals. Forever 21’s perception of what the “cool kids” are wearing may be debatable—I don’t recall any Parisian or Shibuyan “cool kid” trends surfacing the fashion blogosphere, nor can I distinguish anything remarkably Parisian or Shibuyan. My guess is they went with Shibuya, due to Gwen Stefani’s claim on Harajuku. Or, I’m just totally not in the loop and Japan’s fashion epicenter has moved from Harajuku to Shinjuku. More »

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Gyakuten Kenji, also known as Perfect Prosecutor, will be a spin-off from Capcom’s popular Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series. As a fan of the series, when I heard that the new spin-off game for the DS was going to be featuring Mitsurugi Reiji (Miles Edgeworth), I nearly cracked my skull at the news. Obviously, I’m a fan of his.

Well, according to this site, there’s a release date, and it’s for May 28, 2009. WHAAAAT. That is a long way off, and with that being the Japanese release date . . . if Capcom USA ever localizes this, it will be a long time before we English gamers see this. Unless the Japanese one comes with an English option like the couple of the GS games had. Then I’d gladly import the game!

. . . But seriously, May 28?! Aigoos. Oh well. At least we have a release date now.

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The show didn’t spare any suspense when it came to naming the first two crews safe for next week’s episode. Fit Test Challenge was this week’s theme, and each team had to incorporate a specific physical mega-move within their routine. The crews chosen for guaranteed placement within next week’s lineup are the ultimate cuties from “Quest Crew” and—a choice that bewilders me—“The Fly Khicks.”

Quest Crew took to the stage with their required movement of Kickboxing, set to a remix of “Let it Rock” by Kevin Rudolph & Lil’ Wayne. Quickly, Quest set the mood with creativity and some freaky moves. I can only say holy snap; did I just see the guys sliding on their heads and then back flipping over their peers? Was that slow motion a stop cam or the guys’ doing? I actually thought it was a special effect and had to rewind it nine times! It was moments like those that saved this routine from being mediocre and kept it at a high level. More »

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Granted, this week’s theme was nothing short of ridiculous—leap frogs, monkey rolls, knee kicks, side planks—but all the teams managed to incorporate their Fit Test Challenge moves, and did it well at that. My favorite routines included those of Quest Crew, Beat Freaks and Striker’s All-Stars. Although all of the themed moves were randomly assigned, they all managed to fit their respective crews amazingly well. More »

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Hulu is bringing Japanese TV goodness to the US by partnering with NTV (Nippon TV).

Hulu will be streaming the Japanese game show, Gaki. Gaki is popular for is comedy team Downtown who do various stunts like Golf Club Assault Battle and Chili Bean Paste Smearing Battle. You can watch various Gaki episodes here.

In addition, you can watch the entire Nasubi series from Denpa Shonen, another show filled with Japanese humor.

Source: TokyoMango

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Academy Award nominations were announced today, revealing a whopping 10 nominations for my favorite of 2008, Slumdog Millionaire. When I said it was gonna be huge, I wasn’t lying. It’s probably a good idea to take my film recommendations from now on. I have Oscar-inspired taste! (I’m kidding. Or am I?) Nominations for Slumdog Millionaire include ‘Best Picture,’ Danny Boyle for ‘Best Director,’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay.’ More »

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Miyavi (aka MYV) is infamous for his talented solo career and his amazing guitar skills. Due to his skills, he was chosen by rock royalty Yoshiki (X Japan) to join his project ”S.K.I.N”. The group recently performed in 2008 at the Long Beach Arena in LA.

Now super J-Rocker Miyavi will return to the states for the AnimeMatsuri Convention in April 2009.  Planned for his weekend appearance is a Q&A session and a concert on Saturday for all registered fans.  Anime Matsuri 2009 will be hosted at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center and take place April 10 - 12.

For more information check out http://www.animematsuri.com/

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San Jose, Calif. is yet another American city succumbing to the yogurt chain craze with the opening of a Red Mango shop last week. Big freakin’ deal, you say. Expanding yogurt chains are so 2008, Jinra! Not to underwhelm you further, let me just say this: It’s Asian-owned. Ha! I kid, I kid. There’s nothing underwhelming about this particular location because it will be co-owned by none other than Survivor: Cook Islands winner Yul Kwon. There’s little to guess what he did with the $1 million he won from the reality TV show in 2006. More »

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Negotiations are in process for Jackie Chan to play as Mr. Miyagi in the upcoming The Karate Kid film or so says this article. That’s fine and all, but the only thing question I have floating in my exhausted brain is: why must there be a freaking remake? Really, I don’t understand it. Why can’t we just leave the classics alone, and try not to fix what’s not broken?!

On the flipside, though, I think Chan would be a pretty good actor to play as Mr. Miyagi. I can see him be a great mentor to Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son who is playing the main dude who learns karate. Not only would Chan play a good mentor, but he’d be a hilarious one. Somehow, though, I can see his comedic acts being overbearing, and he won’t display that same level of seriousness the original Mr. Miyagi had.

Then again, I don’t think anyone can really replace Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi. So going back to my original question: why must there be a freaking remake?

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Welcome the Year of the Ox with Canto-pop star Priscilla Chan this Saturday, January 24 at the Pechanga Resort Showroom in Temecula, CA. Priscilla has been a paparazzi favorite of Hong Kong tabloids for the past 25 years. The only performance will be at 8pm. To celebrate New Years, Ningin is giving TWO WINNERS each a pair of tickets!

Earlier that day, Pechanga will be kicking off Chinese New Year celebrations Saturday at 3pm with a parade of lion dancers. Accompanied by drums, gongs and symbols, the lion dancers will ward off the mythical beast of “Nian” at 3 and 6:30pm on January 24, 25, 31 and February 1. All eight performances are free to watch! More »

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Cowboy Bebop, an anime about a quartet of bounty hunters and their welsh corgi, is getting revamped into a live action film. Unlike previous anime to cinema adaptations, this movie is not a Japanese production. In fact actor Keanu Reeves, who will play lead Spike Spiegel, has initiated the project altogether. Fans of the series are worried that Hollywood won’t give their beloved show a fair shake and are skeptical about the casting so far. Knowing that Keanu Reeves is a fan of the show himself, his sci-fi acting experience (The Matrix trilogy), and that he does have an uncanny resemblance to Spike’s physique is keeping me optimistic. More »

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During Avatar: The Last Airbender’s original syndication from 2005-2008, I was pretty much in the dark about the Nickelodeon cartoon. For one, I pretty much didn’t watch t.v. during college—save for the internet feed and the shows I was a die hard fan of—and when I finally did hear about Avatar, I immediately brushed it off as a lame attempt at trying to adopt an anime flavor. Most importantly, knowing that it was an American production about an Asian-centric fantasy world, I wasn’t exactly feaning’ to know more about it; the alarm that went off in my head was similar to, “Well, there goes Disney effing up another culture, yet again…” Fail. Having finally seen the show, however, I can safely say it’s totally shut my trap: the cartoon is good—scratch that, it’s amazing—and I only wish it was around when I was growing up. More »

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To celebrate the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama, Ningin asked members of the Asian American political community to blog about what this historic event means to each of them. This guest blog post is from Keith Kamisugi, director of communications at the Equal Justice Society, a San Francisco-based strategy group working on race issues in law and in popular culture. He served on the steering committee of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders for Obama Leadership Council, the campaign’s official AAPI advisory body. He blogs at equaljusticesociety.org and at hapihour.org. More »

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I don’t want to sound like I’m being xenophobic towards China or anything, but is it okay to say that I’m not surprised at how Chinese media censored President Obama’s inauguration speech? As someone who hates censorship in any forms, it’s ironic that I can sort of see why they did it, but at the same time I do not agree with it.

Censorship is a mean to hide or prevent information from being known to the common public. However, it just seems odd that the Chinese translation of the speeches are changed, but they left the speech alone in English — but then again, the English speech is already all over the internet, so I guess they can’t do much about it. Nonetheless, I guess the Chinese officials are hoping that most of their people do not access English website or know English to understand the original speech. I do hope they realize that there are multilingual citizens in China, so to censor the information around like that is pretty pointless.

On a more positive note, yay for President Obama! Woo hoo!

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Ningin was able to catch a quick interview with award-winning filmmaker Kimi Takesue. Her latest short film SUSPENDED is screening at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Kimi’s films have screened at over 200 venues around the world, including the Locarno International Film Festival, Rotterdam International, San Diego Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian International, Vancouver International, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Walker Art Center. Not only that, but her films have also aired on PBS, the Independent Film Channel (IFC), and the Sundance Channel.

SUSPENDED will screen again this Thursday, January 22, 11:30pm at the Library Center Theatre, Park City, Utah, as part of the Sundance US Short Films program. More »

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Big Bang has recently parodied the famous Boys Over Flowers drama.

Being my favorite Jdrama, I got a kick out of the video as each Big Bang member played their parts beautifully. Who would have known that Big Bang would go as far as they did? Honestly I think the Korean Boys Over Flowers should recast Big Bang. They might get even better ratings with them.

T.O.P - Domyouji Dae Sung - Makino G Dragon – Rui Tae Yang – Sojiroh Seung Ri – Akira

You can support them by buying their Global Warming DVD which includes the parody. More »

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BoA isn’t the only Asian pop star actively seeking to stake a claim on the US market this year. Allow me to introduce to you Jamaica’s own Tami Chynn. Like BoA, the 25 year old singer/song writer/dancer has also managed to make waves in Japan with the release of her first album “Out of Many…One” in 2006. Her music style blends pop and R&B with the dancehall and reggae, music of her native Jamaica. Last year, she toured the US with the likes of NKOTB (I’m going to hurt you if you want me to explain what “NKOTB” stands for), Lady Gaga, Colby O’Donis, Natasha Beddingfield and starred in Akon’s “I’m So Paid” music video.

To pioneer her US debut, Chynn’s team consists of Akon and RedOne under SRC/Universal Records. Responsible for the nation’s current #1 hit Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” Chynn’s debut this year with Akon and RedOne is looking good. If I could compare her to other artists, I would say her music is like early Rihanna, but slightly updated to include the sweeping European electro influences on today’s pop music. Fashion and style-wise…I think she’s trying to channel Rihanna but with less edge. If you’re trying to guess her face, her ethnic background is Chinese, Cherokee, Afro-Jamaican and British. Check out “Hypnotico,” a song that’s currently making the rounds in the blogosphere this week: More »

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What can I say? The rap duo Fly to the Sky, Hwanhee (Fany) and Brian are coming back soon!

Ah yes. Its been quite a while since we have heard the sooth voices of both these sexy men on an album together. FttS’s last album, No Limitations, was released summer of 2007 and topped the charts. For over a year now, I have been craving to hear some new smooth R&B flavored vocals from these two. More »

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I read an entry on a friend’s blog, and I stumbled about this one bizarre video on Youtube. It’s supposed to be a parody of Sailor Moon and other magical girl animes out there. It’s funny, I admit, but it’s also . . . quite traumatising.

I mean I don’t mind cross-dressing, obviously, but this video is just too weird. More »

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