Youtube Video of the Week: Jan. 25th

This one gave me chicken skin!

Single mom convicted of felony for sending kids to a better school

This such bullshit, single mother Kelley Williams-Bolar of Akron, Ohio was sentenced with a felony for sending her 2 kids to a better school outside their district?! Half of my friends growing up did this in order to go to better, safer schools.

Read more & sign petition HERE.

Egypt 101

Read this blog post on promotingpeace.tumblr if you are like me and really need a basic explanation of what's going on Egypt.

Then watch or read Al Jazeera English to keep up with what is going on.

In solidarity with the people of Egypt and their struggle for freedom!

Netflix Worthy: Valentino: The Last Emperor

A lot friends complain that the movies available on netflix instant are booty. While I wish that all titles were available for streaming, I've still been able to fill my instant queue with tons of films I've been meaning to watch. Valentino: The Last Emperor was one of them.

As foreign as the elitist world of haute couture fashion is to me, I was drawn in by the pressure and high stakes of Valentino's world. The access that the director Matt Tyrnauer got with the icon and the honest interviews from people around him really made the film. The story structure of Valentino's possible retirement and his relationship with partner Giancarlo Giammetti made the film interesting even if you have no interest in fashion.

Discover Nikkei Article

Here's an article (part 1 of 2) on Discover Nikkei about my film Pilgrimage and the connection I try to make with the JA community through my work. I got a chance to sit down and talk with writer Mia Nakaji Monnier at JANM last year and I thought she did an excellent job with article.







Read Part 2 HERE

Jake Shimabukuro EPK

Here's an EPK I made for Jake with footage from the upcoming documentary

Interview for Fancast.com

My blogging skills are the worst! I forgot to post this interview I did for Fancast.com in December. The article was written by Chi-hui Yang, the curator of Comcast's Cinema Asian America. I owe a lot to Chi-hui. As the director of the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival, he picked my first film, Yellow Brotherhood, to screen at the festival and has been really supportive of my work ever since. It's also because of him that A Song For Ourselves was part of last month's Cinema Asian America line-up.

Read the interview here.

Jake Shimabukuro Feature on NPR

With the release of Jake's new album Peace Love Ukulele this week, NPR kicked off the new year featuring him on Weekend Edition. Listen or read the story here.

Jake Shimabukuro Farmers Insurance Commercial

Jake gettin' that corporate monaaayy! (but still making them more)

Review of A Song For Ourselves in Anthropology Review Database

Here's a recent review of A Song For Ourselves published on the Anthropology Review Database site. Click here to read.

Here's another review posted last year on Educational Media Reviews Online.

If you would like to get A Song For Ourselves into you school's library please contact Third World Majority or Center For Asian American Media.

Beatrock Music Anniversary Show Video

Happy New Year! 2011 looks like it's gonna be another big year for good people making good art (...and wedding vows and babies). Beatrock Music closed out 2010 with 1 year anniversary shows in Long Beach and San Francisco AND announcing two new artists joining the label: Kiwi and Rocky Rivera! Check out the video that Jerome and the rest of the Just Bomin Films crew put together of the SF show: