"One Million Elephants Revisited", reading and disucssion on US bombing of Laos, August 6.

Laos has been in the local papers lately as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a visit there earlier in the month. Along with Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos is one of the countries pulverized by American bombing in the 1960s and 1970s, and the consequences of the war are of course still visible there. From a July 12 Washington Post write-up, via the Post-Gazette:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday became the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Laos since the Vietnam War era, when the United States dropped some 260 million cluster bombs across the countryside in a nine-year campaign to crush North Vietnamese supply lines and bases.

Ms. Clinton met with Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and other officials for talks that centered mostly on addressing that war's lingering effects -- including a sense of mutual estrangement -- and then toured a small museum devoted to its human toll.

Ms. Clinton walked through an exhibit of dangling cluster bombs and crude wooden artificial legs, made by villagers whose limbs had been blown off by unexploded ordnance -- the legacy of a war that Ms. Clinton herself had protested as a college student in the 1960s.

Then she met Phongsavath Souliyat, who had been blinded by and lost both hands to a cluster bomb. He told her he hoped that governments would ban the weapon.

"We have to do more," Ms. Clinton responded. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to come here today, so that we can tell more people about the work that we should be doing together."

As I wrote in November 2011, Americans are generally ignorant of the scale of destruction of the Vietnam War, have tended to manipulate its narrative to make the United States appear the greatest victim rather than the aggressor, and have calculated the war's devastation only in terms of its own losses. There are private groups doing more, though, and attempting to atone for our violence, such as Room to Read and Pittsburgh's Friends of Danang.

With Laos in the news again, and with the legacy of the United States' involvement there perhaps in the public's mind, the No Name Players present "One Million Elephants Revisited" on August 6th at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. The title refers to both the country's historical name of the kingdom (Lan Xang, "Million Elephants") and the original one-man production in Pittsburgh last April. Global Solutions Pittsburgh has a write-up:

In late 2011, local writer Robert Isenberg traveled to Laos to research a book on the Secret War, a nine-year bombing campaign that devastated this tropical nation. In April 2012, Isenberg presented his solo performance, One Million Elephants, at Grey Box Theatre, produced by theatrical mavens No Name Players.

Now the company joins forces with Global Solutions Pittsburgh to present a one-night event that includes readings from Isenberg’s book manuscript, a panel discussion about unexploded cluster munitions (UXO), and a gallery of photographs taken in Laos.

This presentation will take place on Monday, August 6th, 2012, in the Studio Theatre, in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning. The show begins 8 PM, tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.

Ticket proceeds benefit No Name Players and Global Solutions Pittsburgh. Book and art sales benefit Legacies of War, an organization that helps educate Americans about Laos.

"Unknown Japan" film festival in Philadelphia this August, September.

1967's Love for a Fool (Chijin no Ai) runs on August 15.

Unknown Japan IV opens August 8th in Philadelphia and runs each Wednesday evening through September 12th at The Bellefield and PhilaMOCA. Unknown Japan is

a free biannual series (winter + summer) of rare Japanese films presented at various venues throughout the city of Philadelphia. All selected films have never received a VHS/DVD/VOD release outside of their country of origin (with the occasional exception of a film that may have been released in some form in a country other than the U.S., odds are you'll never have heard of it regardless).

All screenings include free popcorn courtesy of the JASGP as well as brief pre-screening introductions by curator Eric Bresler.

Check the website for details. There's a movie from almost every decade from the fifties through the aughts, including Japan's first color film, a nearly unwatchable movie from J-pop group Morning Masume, and

an oddball and often uncomfortable comedy featuring a straight-laced factoryman who is thrust into the swinging '60s courtesy of a young lover with a penchant for dancing and romancing.

Smoothies Korea buys parent company Smoothie King, soon coming to PA.

Pop-up on the Smoothie Korea website today, leading to this press release.

American reporting on Asia tends to extremes and hyperbole. The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal blog gets in on it today, writing about "South Korea's next cultural wave", the smoothie:

Masashi Action Machine in Pittsburgh this August.

Via the Masashi Action Machine website.

Japan's Masashi Action Machine will perform in Pittsburgh on August 1, 2, and 4 as part of the Jazz Dance World Congress held at Point Park University from August 1 - 5. The JDWC says of the Nagoya-based company:

Their distinctive style of jazz dance is based on the male’s rhythmic gymnastics which Mishiro has trained intensively before he started dancing. Sakamoto and Mishiro studied jazz dance under Frank Hatchett in New York since 1983 and has developed original jazz dance pieces which carry out the spirit of traditional Japan. With thrilling acrobatics and the beauty of Japanese culture, their pieces keep the mind of `wakon-yosai`, which means `the fusion of Japanese spirit and the Western abilities`.

Post-Gazette visits Sumi's Cakery, Squirrel Hill's Korean bakery.

Green tea (macha) cupcakes, via the Sumi's Cakery Facebook page.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette visited Sumi's Cakery (Facebook page), a Korean bakery on Squirrel Hill's Murray Avenue. The sweets at Sumi's are rather different than what American palates are used to, and taste lighter and less sweet than the heavy butter cream and whipped icing most commonly seen. Writes Jessica Suss:

Korean-style baked goods are very different from their American or French counterparts. Typically they are topped with a simple whipped cream frosting that is only very lightly sweetened. Pastries themselves are rarely very sweet and most Korean bakeries offer at least one savory option, as well.

That's not necessarily true of Korean bakeries in South Korea, where the ubiquitous chains like Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours are known for heavily-sugared bread and brightly-colored cakes. With more Koreans traveling abroad, though, and more expatriates residing in Korea, these chains and the larger grocery stores are slowly expanding their offerings. Nonetheless Asian-style sweets can be off-putting for Americans used to very sweet . . . um, sweets.

I briefly previewed Sumi's in March, as the fourth Korean business in those three blocks of Squirrel Hill. The Pittsburgh City Paper visited a month later.

Some looks at the proposed Korean Heritage Room at Pitt.

As I wrote in May, the Korean Heritage Room Committee is currently raising funds to turn room 304 into another of the famed "nationality rooms" at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. (Actually, fundraising has been underway since early 2008). A crude scan of a pamphlet back in May showed a rendering of how the interior of the 피츠버그대학교 한국실 may look, but there are some better, and slightly different, pictures online via consultants Arumjigi (아름지기) and the Korean Heritage Committee website. From the latter:





A pamphlet from 2009 by 내촌목공소 (.pdf) has more details about dimensions and building materials of the design by architect Minah Lee.


via 내촌목공소 (Naechon Carpenter's Workshop).

Shim Hye-jin visits Pittsburgh.

Korean model and actress Shim Hye-jin visited her two nephews in Pittsburgh for the June 26th episode of 스타인생극장 (Star Life Theater). A short clip is on Youtube:



Because KBS no longer makes past episodes available online, you will have to find it elsewhere, like via NetskoTV:



If the embedded video doesn't work at first, try refreshing the page, or simply watching it at the link. The portion of her in Pittsburgh is just one part of the program; you can check NetskoTV and Google for the others.

Let the Bullets Fly in Pittsburgh, June 29 - July 3.

Pittsburgh's Harris Theater (map) will show the Chinese film Let The Bullets Fly (让子弹飞), starring Chow Yun-Fat and Ge You among others, from June 29 through July 3, 2012. From the theater's website:

Since its release this action-comedy-thriller has been lauded for its stunning mix of dark humor and eye-popping violence. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, it's become the highest-grossing film of all time in China. Set in 1920s Sichuan, it tells the tale of the bandit "Pocky" Zhang Mazi, who poses as a local governor in a dusty town, but finds himself at odds with the local mobster, who is not eager to share his turf with another drifter. A complex and deadly series of mind-games ensues between the two crooks, which are as violent as they are hilarious.

It opens with an 8:00 pm show Friday, has three weekend shows, and one each on Monday and Tuesday.

Pittsburgh is also currently showing through June 26 the Japanese movie I Wish, which, based on my discerning taste, is . . . meh, okay.

이용실이란?

Min's Jazzcuts gets it 88% right. The Korean-owned salon has an ㅇ instead of a ㅁ, which turns "beauty salon" into something approximating "utility room". As a temporary sign seen on Google Maps---which shows the street, like most streets in the area, as it looked in 2008---has the correct Korean spelling, and as the place has Korean owners and an exclusively Asian clientele who would notice the mistake, it was probably just too much trouble to have the sign redone.

DIYKaiju at The Gallery on Baum.

The Gallery on Baum (4643 Baum Blvd. in Oakland) is currently showing

an exhibition of strange beasts and giant creatures: featuring exclusive japanese & american vinyl monsters, memorabilia + more

Kaiju means "monster" in Japanese (Godzilla, Rodan, et al). You'll find some links to Pittsburgh kaiju designers on this 2008 event page, just to give a general idea about the current exhibition.