Posts from — February 2008

If you’re in the area, the 26th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival might be worth checking out! Its on from March 13th - 23rd, 2008.

From new works by familiar faces to debuts by fresh new voices, the 26th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) offers another stellar lineup of the best in Asian American and Asian cinema.

The Festival runs in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose and is pleased to return to the newly remodeled Sundance Cinemas Kabuki (1881 Post Street, San Francisco), as well as adding the Landmark Clay Theater (2261 Fillmore Street, San Francisco) to its family of venues in San Francisco.

Film screenings, filmmaker tributes and panel discussions will also take place at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street in San Francisco; Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley, and the Camera 12 Cinemas, 201 South Second Street in San Jose.

For more information and tickets, visit: www.asianamericanmedia.org

About the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

The Center for Asian America Media (CAAM presents the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) every March. The SFIAAFF is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films; annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. Since 1982, the SFIAAFF has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers as well as a vital source for new Asian cinema.

About CAAM

The Center for Asian American Media is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible. We do this by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media.

Technorati Tags: Asian American, Center for Asian American Media, film, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

This gorgeous ‘honeycomb lamp’ is designed by Kyouei Design. This Japanese design company has used ‘denguri paper’ for the lamp.

Denguri paper, a local product of Shikoku region in Japan, creates a lantern-like shading effect.

The fold-out paper outline can surround any light bulb and socket, with the stretched folds producing a honeycomb pattern. When the lamp is folded, the thickness is about 2 cm. To unfold it to a lamp shade you need to stick the sides together with some pins (included).

More on Kyouei Design

Via the Style-Files

Technorati Tags: denguri paper, honeycomb lamp, Japan, Kyouei Design, lamp

A model wears an “Oxyzen skin care mask” at a demonstration during a Tokyo Health Industry Show on February 27, 2008.

The mask was invented to treat skin with highly concentrated oxygen.

Via Activate.us

Technorati Tags: Japan, Oxyzen skin care mask, photography, Tokyo Health Industry Show

Toothpick artist Steven Backman has some amazingly detailed sculptures patiently made out of any number of toothpicks!

He’s made the following toothpick sculpture of the Golden Gate Bridge from 30,000 toothpicks which took him 2.5 years. It measures thirteen feet in length, is suspended without any form of cable or wire and is illuminated with over one hundred light emitting diodes!

Steven has also recently created another version of the Golden Gate Bridge, but this time with one toothpick! Measuring 1 7/8” (L) x 1/8” (W) x 3/4” (H), it was sculpted from one toothpick and glue.

See more Toothpick Sculptures by Steven Backman

Via Neatorama

Technorati Tags: crafts, Golden Gate Bridge, Steven Backman, toothpick sculptures

Here’s a fun product which I think is just at concept stage. The Spice Gun, by Zhu Fei from China works by pulling the trigger to compress the air in the air bag.

The handspike will push the bottom of the seasoning bottle to make the nozzle in the turntable retract and spray the seasoning.

I can just imagine all the “fun” to be had in the kitchen! Looks good too.

Via Designboom

Technorati Tags: China, design, Zhu Fei, Spice Gun

Fantastic idea - bringing the combined cool of the Star Wars franchise and samurai culture!

Created by artist Yoshi Isao and on display at Gift Show 2008 in Tokyo, these seem to be concepts for samurai-styled stormtroopers and a badass oriental Darth Vader!

Via Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: Gift Show 2008, Japanese, oriental Darth Vader, Samurai, samurai-styled stormtroopers, Star Wars, Tokyo, Yoshi Isao

I previously posted about Beijing’s Dragon Tongue Squad hip-hop crew who came to London for a two day performance at The Royal Opera House.

The DTS came a week early to spend the time collaborating with the British Chinese scratch artist DJ Phat and guitarist Suki Mok. I went to the opening reception and wrote a little review on my personal blog which I thought I’d place a link to here.

Beijing rap meets British Chinese guitar and scratch artistry

Technorati Tags: China, DJ Phat, Dragon Tongue Squad, music, Royal Opera House, Suki Mok, United Kingdom

Previously-posted Cao Fei is interviewed by email magazine Artkrush, which covers international art and design.

Guangzhou-born, Beijing-based photographer and filmmaker Cao Fei is one of the most exciting Chinese artists of her generation.

She first attracted international attention in 2004 with COSplayers, a video and photo series about Guangzhou teens dressing up as Japanese manga characters, and last summer, at the 52nd Venice Biennale, she premiered China Tracy Pavilion, a project exploring the virtual worlds of Second Life that merged role-playing, ethnographic documentary, and animation.

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, Cao took a break from making dumplings to speak with Artkrush contributor Samantha Culp about animation, youth culture, and virtual real-estate development.

Read the interview with Cao Fei at Artkrush…

Technorati Tags: art and design, Beijing, Cao Fei, Chinese artists, cosplay, Second Life