Anarchy In Asian America: After Party W/ Sisu & Low On High

For the second part of the night, the action moved to Tommy's Place, where Los Angeles shoegaze band Sisu & Jon Moritsugu/Amy Davis' Low On High performed. Tommy's Place was the perfect place for these bands to perform, the stage, the lights, but most important the energy from their performances was the perfect way to close this fun Friday night.

Sisu

Sisu

Sisu

Sisu

Sisu

Low On High 

Low On High

Low On High

Low On High

Low On High

Low On High

Low On High

Low On High

For their Performances:

Sisu:

Low On High: 

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Anarchy In Asian America: Sex, Punk, and Transgressive Cinema

Independent film in the 1990s saw the birth of Queer Cinema, along with more DIY "punk rock" films, most of them would not even qualify as films to the more snobby film afficionados, more in the realm of an "Art Film" or "Cult" banner. What all these movies had in common was that at their core there was a  Fuck Society/Fuck the System attitude, each with their own style and message. On Friday, March 22, 2017, three of these independent auteurs were part of the event, moderated by Strand Releasing's Co-Founder/Co-President Marcus Hu on a "make up" panel, with Gregg Araki, Roddy Bogawa & Jon Muritsugu, since all of them couldn't make it before.

Moderator Marcus Hu (Strand Releasing) asking the though questions, Gregg Araki, Jon Muritsugu & Roddy Bogawa

Gregg Araki

Gregg Araki, Jon Moritsugu, Roddy Bogawa

Amy Davis, Marcus Hu, Gregg Araki

Amy Davis, Gregg Araki, Jon Moritsugu

James Duvall

Marcus Hu, James Duvall, Gregg Araki

Marcus Hu, Gregg Araki, Jon Moritsugu, Roddy Bogawa

The night started with clips from each panelist highlighting their career, followed by stories of how they met and their individual contributions to independent and Asian cinema (though that would be questionable as many of their films don't have Asian leads), with some guest speakers popping up to fill in the tales, Amy Davis, Jon Morisugu's muse and co band member and James Duvall, Gregg Araki's lead on the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, but don't let me paraphrase the night, you can see it below:  

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Menace II Society Q&A

On March 21, 2017, USC's School of Cinematic Arts' Movies We Love series, screened Menace II Society with a post Q&A with Co-Director Albert Hughes and Writer Tyger Williams.
Menace II Society was considered one of those films that weren't in tune with other "Black" films from the era, even a disservice to the Black community given its depiction of gang/drug life in the hood. The film still holds to this day, whilst it wasn't the better made of the 90s gang films, it tries to stay true to life in South Central, what causes people to turn to drug dealing, violence and gangs.
After the film, Hughes and Williams (unfortunately, producer Darin Scott and actor Tyrin Turner, who were scheduled to attend couldn't make it) who were both in their 20s when the movie was made, explained how they got a movie made. They spoke about their work in music videos, told the audience about the production of the film, Tupac's involvement, altercations with Halley Berry, amongst many, many more anecdotes.

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Varsity Punks World Premiere

Director Anthony Solorzano looks on as Actor Andy Bueno talks about how he got the co-lead in the film. (Cody Esquivel & Producer Brandon A Lopez also pictured). 

       Varsity Punks had its world premiere at The Egyptian Theatre on February 28, 2017 to a sold out crowd. The cast and crew plus invited guests walked the red carpet before the film, with the filmmakers, cast and crew specially excited to share their movie with the public, expressing their love for the film during the interviews. Varsity Punks was shown as part of Apertura Showcase, which features a slate of monthly Latino lead films at the Egyptian.

It was nice to see a sold out crowd for an almost all Latino cast film. Varsity Punks deals with high school football star AJ Montolla (Cody Esquivel), whose game injury forces him to take a break from football and ends up reluctantly joining the "geeks" at the cross country team. The team, lead by Rosie (Andy Bueno), which is everything Montoya isn't, the "punk" in the title, clashes heads with the jock Montolla, who now has to decide whether to stay with them or go back to his old team.

After the movie, director Anthony Solorzano was joined by leads Andy Bueno and Cody Esquivel along with Producer Brandon A Lopez, told the sold out crowd about making the movie.


All in all, Varsity Punks has its moments and it's always good to see a more realistic take on high school life in "the hood", as it's tiring to always see an all white cast even when movies take place in areas that are mostly Latino. The question becomes, is there then a need for Latinos to make their own films in order to be represented in the media? As long as there are opportunities there for Latino made movies that show how "the other side lives" there is a chance for representation. Let's hope studios realize that it's not always about the "sure thing" and keep misrepresenting people of color...

Cody Esquivel (AJ Montoya)

Orien Richman (Coach Klingerman)

Adam Weber (Chad)

Vivian Lamolli

Douglas Spain

Juan Gomez (Young Ryan)

Ysidro Aleman (Tito)

Erick Chavarria

Andy Bueno (Rosie)

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Nintendo Switch Preview Tour: ARMS

The Nintendo Switch Tour featured an exclusive game for Nintendo fans to play, ARMS.

Lucky fans were able to play ARMS during both days of the event, with the first ticketed day being the less crowded of the two. ARMS is one of the games that would not be available upon release, an exclusive preview for the fans!

ARMS is a fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, with all the characters having the ability to throw their arms at the opponent, grab them and throw them or hit them or shoot at them, depending on the arm chosen. Only four characters were available to try for the demo, Mechanica, Master Mummy, Spring Man and Ribbon Girl.

The event also had competitions of the different games available, with the winners taking home a Nintendo Switch hat.

For more information about ARMS, which has a June 16 release date, visit the official Nintendo page here:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/arms-switch 

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