A couple of weeks ago, Skokie and Niles Township held an opening ceremony for the event celebrating Korean culture. An excerpt has been posted on YouTube, so check it out!
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Video: Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township 2014
A video has been posted by District 219 TV (Niles Township High Schools) that details the Coming Together program for this year. Check it out!
Note: some browsers may not play this embedded video properly — if so, here’s the link.
Chicago Tribune and Skokie Review
A pair of stories from the local papers regarding Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township.
From The Chicago Tribune:
Annual Skokie program focuses on Korea
Korean culture, entertainment and culinary delights will be shared and celebrated during the fifth annual Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township.
More than 60 events and activities are planned during the next six weeks as village officials join hands with the local Korean-American community, Niles Township High School District 219 and library officials in Skokie, Morton Grove, Niles and Lincolnwood to spread knowledge about Korea.
[more]
From Skokie Review:
From K-Pop to hanbok, this celebration of Korean culture has it covered
SKOKIE — Coming Together in Skokie & Niles Township celebrates the Korean culture with an opening ceremony featuring an exhibit and refreshments at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 26 and a cultural program at 2 p.m. at Niles West High School.
The event will highlight Taekwondo, K-Pop, traditional performances and more.
This officially launches some 60-plus eclectic Korean-themed programs over the next six weeks at various Niles Township venues. The following is a schedule of events categorized by the type of activity being held.
[more]
Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township 2014
For the last four years, Skokie, Illinois has held Coming Together in Skokie. Here’s the snippet from the site:
Now in its fifth year, Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township is a unique program begun by Niles Township High School District 219, Skokie Public Library, the Village of Skokie, the Holiday Inn North Shore/Skokie, and the Indian Community of Niles Township. During the winter, we explore in depth a different culture each year through reading and discussing common books and enjoying a host of other exciting activities. The event takes place during a six-week period from January through March. Our first four years showcased the Asian Indian, Filipino, Assyrian, and Greek communities. Thousands of residents attended book sessions, lectures, dramas, and musical events for each celebration.
For this year, Skokie is celebrating Korean culture, and I can’t tell you how honored I am that they chose my first novel, Everything Asian, for their adults and high school students selection. An entire community is reading my book, right now — and I have proof!
Proof!
That thumbnail graphic on the left is from the Skokie Public Library catalog, and there are enough copies of my book in circulation that I actually have to scroll the page to get to the end. During the month of February, the following discussions will take place:
Book Discussion: Everything Asian
A witty, relatable family drama, Everything Asian tells the tale of the Kim family’s immigration from South Korea to New Jersey. Adjusting to strange new foods, customs and people, the Kims story is one that will resonate across cultures as it is one that is uniquely American.
When: Saturday, February 8, 2014, 1PM
Where: Skokie Public Library – Off-Site (Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, 930 Capitol Drive, Wheeling)
When: Monday, February 24, 7PM
Where: Skokie Public Library
Lit Lounge Book Discussion – Everything Asian
When: Wednesday, February 12, 2014, 7PM
Where: Skokie Public Library – Off-Site (Curragh Irish Pub, 8266 Lincoln Avenue)
Where: Skokie Public Library – Off-Site (Curragh Irish Pub, 8266 Lincoln Avenue)
Everything Asian: Exploring Family and Gender Narratives in Korean American Literature
In Everything Asian we are presented with narratives that touch upon the Korean American experience from multiple perspectives. In this lecture, Professor Ji-Yeon Yuh of Northwestern University will expose and deconstruct these narratives to provide deeper insight on the themes of immigration, family, and gender as they relate to the experiences of contemporary Koreans and Korean Americans.
When: Wednesday, February 19, 7PM
Where: Skokie Public Library
I’m especially grateful to Jessi Schulte and Lynnanne Pearson of the Skokie Public Library for their kindness and guidance, and to Skokie’s First Lady Susan Van Dusen for spearheading this wonderful event. I’ll be making my visit to Skokie and Nile Township in March, and I can hardly wait!
Meet Everything Asian Author Sung J. Woo
The author of Everything Asian, this year’s featured book for Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township, will speak and be available to autograph his book.
Thursday, March 6, 7PM
Skokie Public Library
Petty Auditorium
[Skokie Review article]
[Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township (site) (facebook)]
[Skokie Public Library]
Haikus & Reviews: Blue Jasmine, Enough Said, All Is Lost, Her, Captain Phillips, Wolf of Wall Street, Pitch Black
The 2014 Golden Globes are about to start. Many movies were seen in the last few days…
Blue Jasmine
Queen, Elf, Bob Dylan
Here as a Madoffed Blanche, she
shines in delusion.
Cate Blanchett is so good in this movie that she makes everybody else in every movie ever made an amateur. Yeah, I know, it’s a bit much of a compliment, but lord, this is a performance to behold. Blanchett is a magician without any tricks. She actually gets us to root for this sad, bewildered sack of a woman! Sandra Bullock will probably win the Best Actress Oscar, but we all know who did the best work this year.
Enough Said
Three’s-Company-like
plot hinders this fine movie
but Jim saves the day.
Who knew that Gandolifini could play such a soft, warm-hearted character? He’s a revelation, and now he’s gone.
All Is Lost
Man lost on a boat
Silent, stark, meditative
Could have used Wilson…?
There have been comparisons of this movie to Gravity, which I can sort of see, but the biggest failing of this film is that we don’t know why the Redford character does what he does to save his ship. For example, there’s a sequence when the boat encounters a storm that he fights his way to the top of the boat with something in his hand. Why is he out there, and what is he trying to accomplish? Because we don’t understand, we’re not as emotionally involved as we could be. In Cast Away, Tom Hanks had Wilson the volleyball to talk to, which seemed a bit silly in the beginning, but it strengthened our connection with him because we had better access to his thoughts.
Her
It’s a movie that
shows a lot more than it tells
yet I feel nothing.
I was really looking forward to seeing this, so the depth of my disappointment was pretty severe. It’s a gorgeously shot film, with set design that should pick up some gilded hardware, but I just couldn’t feel what Joaquin Phoenix’s character was feeling at all. And the whole conceit of the movie was lost on me. Why would anyone want an operating system that didn’t want to work? What happens in the end — do the users get a refund? Was any of this stated in the EULA? Perhaps it’s because I’m too much of a techie, but the sci-fi concepts felt so rudimentary that it got in the way. And the silent scenes of Theodore’s memory of his ex-wife and their past became a bit too precious as the film went on.
Captain Phillips
Tom’s Boston accent
Pirate’s American dreams
Dizzy hand-held cam
I like my camera to stay steady, so I’m never a fan of the hand held, but it’s a solid movie. You won’t be disappointed.
Wolf of Wall Street
Greed is very good
for Jordan/Stratton Oakmont
until it isn’t.
Last year, Leo was Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. I didn’t think it would be possible for him to star in a film that was even more gaudy and excessive than that one, but here it is. He’s great in it, of course, and so is Jonah Hill. The movie probably could’ve been an hour shorter, but there are plenty of laughs.
Pitch Black
Extra Cheesy B
with a side of Diesel beef.
In Riddick we trust.
Not Golden Globes related! This is a film I’ve been meaning to see for years. Yes, the effects are now incredibly cheesy. They were probably sufficiently cheesy even back in 2000. But Vin Diesel is excellent as Riddick, and really, he’s not a bad actor at all. And Rahda Mitchell — I didn’t even know she was in it. This movie is not going to impress you in any way, but it knows what it is and delivers two hours of entertainment.
Haikus and Reviews: Saving Mr. Banks, American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave
Cinema award season is upon us, which means there are lots of good movies to watch — supposedly. Here are three I recently saw.
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Saving Mr. Banks Colin Farrell is Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks are both excellent, but that’s par for the course. The film cuts back and forth between the present and P.L. Travers’ childhood, and the transitions are pretty rough in the beginning. They get better as the movie progresses, but the film does not. |
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American Hustle epic comb-over Outside of Christian Bale, everyone was overacting in this film. The movie isn’t convoluted, but it feels convoluted. The last fifteen minutes is fun, but it does not excuse what has come before it. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the massive critical love for American Hustle, since it features many fine actors and a director recently feted, but the fact is, it’s just not that good. |
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12 Years a Slave This is not a film. I’ve been a fan of Chiwetel Ejiofor since Dirty Pretty Things, and this is a fantastic showcase of his talents. But this is just a grinder of a movie, with one agonizing scene after another. Of course this is the way it should be, since we’re dealing with the very bleak subject of slavery in its most unfiltered form, but if there was any way to inject humor (just a bit here or there), it would’ve gone a long, long way. Be on the lookout for Amish Brad Pitt. |
Favorite Songs of 2013
“I’ll explore the outer limits of boredom / moaning periodically”
Here’s a list of my top songs for this year, in an order that might be surprisingly mixable. These are not necessarily from 2013; I just happened to have heard them in the last twelve months.
“Tourniquet,” by Hem (Departure & Farewell)
“Run (Feat. Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush),” by Matt Nathanson (Modern Love)
“Someone Will,” by Dawes (Stories Don’t End)
“I Remember You,” by Rilo Kiley (Rkives)
“Entertainment,” by Phoenix (Bankrupt!)
“Metroland,” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (English Electric)
“We Sink,” by Chvrches (The Bones of What You Believe)
“Don’t Just Sit There,” by Lucius (Wildewoman)
“Out on the Town,” by Fun. (Some Nights)
“Black Sheep,” by Gin Wigmore (Gravel & Wine)
“At Seventeen,” by Janis Ian (Between the Lines)
“If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” by Flogging Molly (Drunken Lullabies)
“Fake Palindromes,” by Andrew Bird (The Mysterious Production of Eggs)
“Don’t Save Me,” by Haim (Days Are Gone)
“Lights (Single Version),” by Ellie Goulding (Halcyon [Deluxe Version])
“Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,” by Pet Shop Boys (Electric)
“Picking Up the Pieces,” by Paloma Faith (Fall to Grace)
“The Heart of the Matter,” by Megan Hilty (It Happens All the Time)
“What’ll Keep Me Out of Heaven,” by Brandy Clark (12 Stories)
“Without You,” by Harry Nilsson (Nilsson Schmilsson)
If I had to pick one song that was my very favorite for this year, it would be the Pet Shop Boys’ “Love Is a Bourgeois Construct,” a seven-minute romp that somehow never overstays its welcome. It’s a playful song with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a driving beat, the signature of these pop masters who’ve been making great music for more than twenty years. May they stay boys forever.
Haiku and Review: Prisoners and Seven Psychopaths
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Two girls go missing |
I’ve read a couple of reviews for this film, and one thing I find strange is that most critics think that the police officer played by Jake Gyllenhaal is the only one in the precinct with brains. I beg to differ — I think he’s just as incompetent as the rest of the uniforms. He grills Paul Dano’s character for hours on end to no avail, and it takes Hugh Jackman literally 10 seconds to get him to talk? And Jackman also finds the killer before Gyllenhaal does.
And by the way, I feel bad for Dano. Seems like every movie, he gets the crap beaten out of him (or worse). It’s like he’s the Jesse Pinkman of the big screen.
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Film about a film |
I had high hopes going into this movie, because I adored In Bruges. This film had its moments, but it really isn’t very good. I wished I’d seen The Player again instead.
As the Heart Bones Break, by Audrey Chin
I had the opportunity to read Audrey Chin’s As the Heart Bones Break in galleys, and as the title suggests, it is indeed a heartbreaker of a novel. Taking place during the Vietnam War, it’s an emotionally challenging yet ultimately rewarding story. It won’t be available in the U.S. until 2014, but a Kindle version is available via Amazon UK. Check it out!
Haiku and Review: Before Midnight
Jesse and Celine
walk and talk and…fight and cry?
Next: Before Divorce.
A date movie this is not. Look out, really. If you and your significant other are having some difficulty in your relationship, I’d say steer clear of this movie, because it might be enough to doom you. The first of this series of films was without question one of the most romantic ever made. The second one wasn’t so far off, especially with that cute and promising ending. But this one? Midnight has never been a darker time of night.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a fine flick all around, but unlike Before Sunset, there’s not enough lift at the end, at least not for me. Sure, Jesse and Celine make up, and there is hope and humor in that final scene, but it can’t balance out the awful things they’ve said to each other for the last hour and a half. I know that’s the point, that these two are now in the mature/spiteful part of their relationship and it is a mighty struggle to stay together, but jeez, I almost don’t want to see what happens to them in the next installment.