Crystal Watanabe made these “cupcake girls” out of bundles of multi-colored somen noodles and quail eggs. Red and yellow peppers or nori were used for the bangs.
Obento, My Bento!
Creating bento box art is a growing trend in the States thanks to the power of social media.
by VIVIEN KIM THORP
Lunchmeat lions, cheese slice tigers, sandwich bread bears … oh, my! Welcome to the world of the modern bento, where rice balls lead second lives as nori-clad ninjas and artfully trimmed veggies can turn a bed of noodles into a tasty tableau.
The classic version of the Asian lunch box has rectangular compartments holding the contents of a pre-cooked meal, as well as the bento’s fanatical offshoot, the charaben, in which anime characters and the like are obsessively fleshed out over a canvas of white rice. But as of late, the bento has crossed the Pacific with a new role: ambassador for the healthy, homemade lunch.
Crystal Watanabe, a 32-year-old university office administrator and co-author of the Yum-Yum Bento Box cookbook, first started making bento in 2007. “I was trying to lose weight to be in my friend’s wedding party, and bento was a great way of doing portion control,” she says. Continue Reading »
North Koreans pose for photos in front of the newly unveiled statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at the Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyongyang.
Photojournalist Mark Edward Harris captures scenes from North Korea’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the nation’s late founder.
story and photographs by MARK EDWARD HARRIS
On April 13, the North Koreans launched a three-stage rocket. Seconds later, it exploded. The launch was no doubt timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation’s late founder, Kim Il-sung—an occasion also marked by a series of major celebratory activities, including a simultaneous, multicity fireworks display and grand military parade.
News of the failed launch was unusual in that it was broadcast to the people of North Korea without the usual spin—no scapegoating or attaching blame on those south of the 38th parallel or Washington. Is this a signal of the leadership style of new, third-generation leader Kim Jong-un?
I wanted to travel for the eighth time to North Korea to see the country for the first time since the passing of Kim Jong-il, son of Kim Il-sung, last December. I arrived April 14 at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport, where I had first set foot in the reclusive country seven years earlier. I have witnessed a sea change since 2005—including scenes like this one: an Italian restaurant complete with red-and-white checkered tablecloths and Italian clothing-garbed women tossing pizzas; a Helmut Sachers Austrian coffee house; and a Paradise microbrewery.
Thousands of cars now travel on the once-barren streets. This is, of course, in Pyongyang, which is the showcase city of the North. But having ventured throughout the country on numerous occasions, I am witness to historic changes that cannot simply be passed off as propaganda created for foreign eyes. Continue Reading »
Time of My Life
A Korean punk band’s recent show in L.A. forces an old fan to reflect on the perils of fandom.
by EUGENE YI
I gave you the time of your life!” shouted the woman, from across the bar. I blanched. My girlfriend, by my side, looked on, bemused. I answered in the only appropriate manner.
“What?”
“I introduced you to Crying Nut! You love Crying Nut, right?” Oh right. She had gotten me into the Los Angeles date of this year’s Seoulsonic tour, headlined by Crying Nut, the seminal Korean punk band. Apparently, she was under the impression that the band was one of my all-time favorites, when really, the group was only important to me from May 2001, when I started listening to Korean punk because it was serviceable, to June 2002, when I stopped listening to Korean punk simply because it was serviceable.
But what a high it was! Crying Nut blasted open my notion of contemporary Korean music. They affirmed a punk Korean identity, and, by proxy, my own sense of identity. They did what good art does: make us less lonely. Continue Reading »
Born and raised in Seoul, where academic success is paramount, children’s author and illustrator Yangsook Choi was tired of being classified as a “shirker” throughout her childhood for her “idle doodling.”
“It took me 20 years to realize that I was meant to be an artist,” Choi said.
So Choi moved to the United States to pursue her studies in art and received a master’s degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She went on to write and illustrate children’s books, including The Name Jar, Behind the Mask and Peach Heaven.
The 40-something South Korean native has ventured beyond the pages of print literature, and her colorful artwork can now also be found on a new multicultural children’s iPad app, “Oy China!”
How would you describe your style of art? Continue Reading »
Posted: May 14th, 2012
Filed Under: Back Issues , BLOG , FEATURED ARTICLE , May 2012
Byrne, Baby, Byrne
For years, Steve Byrne has lit up the stage at comedy clubs, bars and late-night talks shows, earning a reputation as one of the hardest-working stand-up comedians in the biz. Now he’s getting the chance to enjoy the fruits of that intense labor as the star and co-writer of his own sitcom, Sullivan & Son, to premiere on TBS this summer.
story by Oliver Saria
photographs by Yann Bean
The premiere of comedian Steve Byrne’s sitcom Sullivan & Son on TBS is only about three months away when I interview him, and he’s still settling into his production office at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. The place looks like a teenage boy had decorated it. The walls are plastered with NHL and movie posters—the Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins (his two favorite teams) and all things Marvel Comics. Other framed memorabilia is stacked against the wall, still in bubble wrap, and a tabletop hockey game sits in the middle of the room, waiting to be assembled.
It’s the quiet before the storm. Full-on production mode for the 10-episode season begins in earnest by early May, right after his wife of one year, Jessica, is due to give birth to their first child, a girl. Byrne has every reason to be frantic, but the relaxed vibe of his office décor extends to his demeanor. It’s a good thing I caught him before he is completely stressed out and sleepless.
For a guy with a reputation of being obsessed with work, he doesn’t come off as blindly ambitious or self-obsessed—driven instead by the love of his craft, which he first developed after stumbling upon a job answering phones at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York City in the late ’90s. For the theater major from Kent State, the original plan was to move to California, but after catching the stand-up bug, Byrne spent the next 15 years tirelessly plying his trade. During that span, he has made the rounds of the late-night talk shows; won the MySpace Standup or Sitdown Comedy Challenge; toured nationally with The Jameson Comedy Tour, The Kims of Comedy and Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Tour; headlined numerous USO tours (his brother is in the Army, and he is a huge supporter of U.S. troops); appeared in the films The Dilemma, Couples Retreat and Four Christmases; and aired two well-received hour-long specials on Comedy Central, Steve Byrne: Happy Hour and The Byrne Identity. Continue Reading »
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Featured Event
One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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