I had the opportunity to interview John Cho on the set at the Walt Disney Studio lot. I have to give props to John Cho who complimented me on my scarf right after I introduced myself to him. He asked if it was an Alexander McQueen skull scarf and I unfortunately had to admit that it was just a knock-off scarf I bought at a subway station in Seoul. He marveled that Seoul was a crazy city and we laughed about that. The man is kind, well-spoken and has a great sense of humor – and that definitely set the tone for the rest of the interview. In the interview he gave us the scoop on what we can expect in the second half of FlashForward’s first season, future projects and his preference between Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba. More »

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Tim Be Told is a 5 piece songwriting power house, whose sound I can’t stop comparing to a more soulful Maroon 5 or The Fray. Since their dorm room days of musical mayhem, the Charlottesville quintet has won UVA’s Battle of the Bands, sparking a booking frenzy on the college music circuit, and turning heads along the way. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview them! More »

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When I first saw Steve Byrne perform stand-up on The Tonight Show last year, I knew he’d be going places from there. What sets him apart from most comedians is the fact that he doesn’t just stand when he does stand-up. He channels a lot of his comedic energy into moving around on stage. Not just on stage, but on TV and film. He has appeared on the big screen with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon in Four Christmases , Jeremy Piven and Will Ferrell in The Goods: The Don Ready Story and Vince Vaughn film Couples Retreat. In addition, he’s no stranger to popular late night TV shows and his Comedy Central special has been hailed one of the best of all time. Steve was kind enough to let me interview him! More »

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The Tuesday night before Thanksgiving I attended a Boom Boom Satellites (BBS) concert in New York City. I had no idea who they were before the concert but quickly grew in love with their music. 12 hours later, they were in the Ningin office lounge hanging out with the Ningin NYC staff. It was kind of surreal because it’s not every day we have rock stars just kickin’ it in our office and at the time I’ve yet to fully recover from the wild night of partying. It was a great experience and I was able to learn a lot about them through a somewhat informal interview. Again BBS is a two-person band, Michiyuki (right) is the vocalist and guitarist and Masayuki (left) is on bass. Mimi, their manager helped answer a few questions as well. Enjoy! More »

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Since I went nuts over Red Cliff, the good people here at Ningin (and the good people who work with Takeshi Kaneshiro) allowed me to interview Takeshi Kaneshiro (that’s right, I bolded it twice- can you tell I was excited about this?) For those of you who haven’t been following my Red Cliff posts (shame on you, go read my blog!), Takeshi played a leading role in Red Cliff as famous military strategist Zhuge Liang. Read on for Takeshi on his role in Red Cliff and more. More »

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Interviewing Director James McTeigue was a challenge of a different sort for me. I didn’t know much about him at first other than that he directed V for Vendetta, which so happens to be one of my favorite films. That’s the only movie that’s he directed prior to Ninja Assassin but he’s been part of the Wachowski’s team for a long time and he’s had a role in the making of Speed Racer as well. I’m starting to see a pattern of Wachowski, James McTeigue, and Rain. I hope those three combine to produce movies forever! More »

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Ningin has interviewed BoA, the Wonder Girls, Utada, and many other wonderful Asian celebs. This interview with Rain felt bigger than all of those. For me, part of the reason why is because of what we’re interviewing him for, the Ninja Assassin movie – the first big budget Hollywood film with an Asian male lead and a mostly Asian cast. Plus, it’s Rain. There’s no bigger male Asian pop star in the world! I was actually a little nervous but, more excited than anything else. More »

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Today has definitely been one of those “I love my job” type days. Since most of you guys never had the experience of doing a press junket and interviewing celebs, I thought it would be good to go through my entire three hour experience with Rain and the marketing team at Warner Bros. And what a great team they have at Warner Bros. Everyone was so nice, open and chatty. I wish every studio was like that. More »

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For most Americans, dressing up in costume only happens once a year on Halloween. For others, Halloween need not be required to dress up — it’s a hobby called cosplay. Cosplay for Alodia Gosiengfiao is more than just a hobby. In the world of cosplay, Alodia Gosiengfiao is a queen. She’s graced magazine covers, been featured on talk shows and ranked in this year’s FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World list, Philippine edition. I obviously did not rank this year, but luckily for us, Alodia was kind to let me interview her. More »

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I was a big geek in high school. Proof? I went to prom twice in high school and had no date…twice. Almost a decade later, I’m still a geek but with an L — I’m a Gleek. The term ‘gleek’ is now widely popularized as a nickname for fans of Fox’s Glee. The show follows a high school Spanish teacher who’s driven to turn a group of underdogs into a high school Glee club of superstars. Speaking of superstar, last week I was able to interview Glee’s Harry Shum. More »

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In part one of our interview with Justin Chon, we learned about his recent travels and life since Twilight. Today, Justin continues dishing on the Twilight saga, future endeavors and gives us a surprising revelation. More »

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Although you know Twilight’s Justin Chon as human Eric Yorkie, I’m happy to say that the humanity doesn’t stop there. After chatting with him yesterday for a few minutes he’s easily made it on my list of super down-to-earth people. That my friends, is a good list to be on. Aside from earning a spot on that list, he was able to dish on the upcoming New Moon movie and fill us in on what he’s been up to since we last chatted. A few times, he even turned the tables on me by asking me questions. More »

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After watching Dave Boyle’s “White on Rice” comedy film about the trials and tribulations of a quirky 40 year old divorcee, I had the opportunity to briefly interview him about the making of White on Rice: More »

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Vienna Teng played an intimate show at Housing Works Bookstore last Friday, and because it’s crazy Asian and Asian-American film festival time here in NYC, I couldn’t make it. So I sent Tina Chou instead. More »

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Hip hop-alternative rock band afterschoolspecial have got a new EP out tittled Not One For Words. Performing live all over Southern California, this San Diego group has been doing what it takes to go big. Lead MC Dan aka Dan connected with us about the past, present and future of afterschoolspecial. More »

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Kero One gave us a little shoutout after he got home from his international stint with Epik High on the MAP THE SOUL Tour. The Bay Area rapper-producer traveled with Epik High thru Korea, Japan and across the US. We got the deets on the origin of Kero One, getting on board Map The Soul, and working with Japan’s DJ Deckstream. More »

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Ningin’s Kevin Desmond got to visit Kev Nish and Prohgress at Far East Movement headquarters last week. The FM duo talked about the past, present and near future of FM, producing with Jin the MC and Se7en, the hotness of the “Girls On The Dancefloor” contest, upcoming tour dates with Epik High, and another International Secret Agents show for 2009! With all that info, we split the interview into two parts. As promised, here’s Part 2. More »

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Ningin’s Kevin Desmond stopped by Far East Movement headquarters for a little tour with FM’s Kev Nish. Afterwards, they sat down with Prohgress for some interview time. The two MCs spilled the beans about FM’s origins, working with Jin the MC and Se7en, the popular “Girls On The Dancefloor” contest, their upcoming tour with Epik High, and another International Secret Agents show later this year! Whoa, that’s a lot! So we split the interview into two parts. Enjoy Part 1 today. Part 2 will be up tomorrow. More »

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Wonder Girls are in Korea now, but they answered questions from Ningin readers over email. Originally we were going to ask your questions in a video interview. Unfortunately, both Wonder Girls’ and Ningin’s schedules didn’t work out before they left for Korea.

We got a lot of questions sent in from Ningin readers. In the end, we picked 10 questions to send the Girls. Do you see one of yours? More »

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Se7en has left New York City. Life has returned to normal here, but it was one crazy weekend. Jeanette Eng and I managed to sit down with Se7en for some sun and fresh air overlooking Fifth Avenue. We almost didn’t catch it on camera because of a faulty microphone, but Dan Fisher came thru for us in the clutch. He was the official videographer for Se7en’s NYC visit. The man flew all the way out from Seattle. No joke. I don’t want to bore you with camera talk, but Dan knows his stuff. And who wouldn’t want to have his job? More »

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