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Thursday May 09, 2024
 

Director Ang Lee honored 'Life of Pi' opens New York Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Ang Lee’s “The Life of Pi” will open the 50th New York Film Festival, where it will also make its world premiere. “The Life Of Pi” is the first 3D film to be presented as the opening night gala selection of the New York Film Festival, which runs September 28 through Oct. 14. « more »

Kevin "kevjumba" Wu and Linn Yen Connected on Video

Our AsianInNY A-Team, the beautiful Linn Yen, and the comedian and YouTube celebrity Kevin “kevjumba” Wu got connected on a great video together! « more »

Michelle CHEN ??? signs on at ATN

Taiwanese actress Michelle CHEN ???, arguably one of the hottest new talents to emerge in Greater China in the past year, has been snapped up by ATN Talent Management Ltd ???????????. « more »

In ‘Supercapitalist,’ Wall Street Is Back as a Villain – NYTimes!

We at DealBook often dream of reviewing movies for The New York Times (A.O. Scott, we’re available if you want a vacation). And once in a while, a finance-oriented film comes along to pique our interest.

A new independent movie, “Supercapitalist,” incorporates modern-day tools (smartphones, computer data dumps) to the familiar villain of Wall Street greed. The film also touches on many of the business themes familiar to Wall Streeters: poison pills, short-selling, bets on Fed monetary policies and of course, wealth.

Though it may seem that financiers would shun anything that would cast them in a harsh light, the film’s executive producers include Sam Kwok, who is a director at a venture capital firm focused on early-stage media and technology investment, and John Hsu, who manages his family’s investment portfolio of stocks hedge funds, properties, private equity and venture capital.

The director, Simon Yin, also nods to the globalization of money that has shifted financial centers to other parts of the world. Although New York plays a major role, it is now Hong Kong that is main backdrop as Asia is the center for wealth and success.

Derek Ting – who is also producer and writer — plays Conner Lee, a smart, up-and-coming hedge fund trader in New York at a firm not-so-subtly named Supercapitalist Inc. Linus Roache assumes the role of the hedge fund’s boss — a clean-cut Wall Streeter named Mark Patterson – while channeling a modern-day Gordon Gekko from the Oliver Stone film “Wall Street.”

In the opening scene of “Supercapitalist,” Mark declares to clients the insider trading that is at the heart of “Wall Street.”

“Back in the ’80s and ’90s, information was key,” he says with a gravelly voice. “Now it’s a whole new game.” He soon adds, “Hedge funds, gentlemen, are the future.”

Mark does business in a private jet, in a hotel room while having a romantic encounter and on the patio of his Manhattan apartment, doing yoga with Apple ear buds in place. He and others in the film are recognizable characters of high finance, but their egomaniacal ways stoke a culture clash abroad.

Seeing Mark as a father figure and being the good solider, Conner trots out to Hong Kong, with just enough naïveté to see his mission — of managing a struggling investment, the fictional trading firm Fei & Chang — as a noble goal.

Conner also becomes a stand-in for the cold-hearted American business practices, as he proposes that the big family-run company in Hong Kong fire a good portion of its managers and sell assets to improve the bottom line.

In one scene in Hong Kong, an investment banker, Michael Baker (Jake Boswell), tells how he and his “banker friends” muscled a local eatery into adding English to its menu. “Classic M.&A.,” he says. Conner asks how the locals felt about the changes. “Locals? Who cares?” Michael says.

The Western financiers treat Hong Kong as a playground. Conner’s colleague, Quentin Wong (Darren E. Scott), has a loose interpretation of Guanxi, the Chinese concept of business relationships. To him, the practice involves projecting an image of excess wealth and using bribery to ferret out business information.

The film occasionally winks to the classics of the genre. In one scene, a boy shows off a computer game that lets players buy and sell companies. In one corner of the screen is a green button with three words: “Purchase Gekko Bonds.”

While finance is at the heart of the movie, ultimately, it is family that is the core message of the movie, rather than greed is good.

“Supercapitalist” opens on Friday in New York, and later in Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and is also available on video on demand on cable and on iTunes.

Source from NY Times ‘)}

Show Luo Rocks Manhattan Portage in Hong Kong

Have you ever heard of Show Luo? Well.. he is kind of a big deal in Asia! Show (???) is known as “The Asian Dance King” by Taiwanese media and a down to earth goofball by everyone who personally knows him. « more »

THE BASEBALL TOMORROW FUND, METS, SNY AND CITI TO HOST A FIELD MAINTENANCE CLINIC AT CITI FIELD

The New York Mets today announced the Baseball Tomorrow Fund (BTF), Mets, SNY and Citi will host a field maintenance clinic at Citi Field this Saturday, August 11 for Tri-State area youth baseball and softball organizations. The clinic is a part of the BTF/MLB Field Maintenance Education Program. « more »

Yuan Yuan Tan for Gap

Gap has unveiled an edgy new ad campaign that features lesser-known musicians and dancers including the San Francisco Ballet’s Yuan Yuan Tan. « more »

Jet Li at THE EXPENDABLES 2

Our favorite action heroes Jet Li will be on the big screen again at THE EXPENDABLES 2, and this time, there is an Asian actress Yu Nan in the film. Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Liam Hemsworth, Scott Adkins are all joining forces to save the world in THE EXPENDABLES 2. « more »

2012 NY K-POP Festival Open Concert Contest

Korean Cultural Service New York is reaching out to the world through diverse activities, such as 2011 NY K-POP Contest in Central Park. Continuing from last year’s success, Korean Cultural Service New York (KCSNY director Woo Sung Lee) is once again hosting the New York K-POP Festival in response to the growing attention towards K-POP culture. « more »

Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance Offers AsianInNY Members Scholarship

From the days of Marco Polo, Italy has been delighted to engage in a cultural exchange with Asia. In continuing with this tradition, ILICA (Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance) is happy to celebrate its 8th Anniversary by inviting AsianInNY to participate in the festivities on Oct 26th at the Lighthouse of Chelsea Piers and to offer two Asian students to study in Siena Italy for one month including all housing, flights and tuitions. « more »