Kathy Griffin got an Emmy for it. Denise Richards actually got renewed. Now comedienne Margaret Cho is having a go at the reality TV genre. After over a decade of absence, Cho is giving television another shot after her sitcom, 1994’s “All American Girl,” about a Korean American family bombed.
Gangster Daddy’s Little Girl
Shoko Tendo grew up a yakuza’s daughter turned into a juvenile delinquent, then a drug addict, then finally a sturdy writer with a compelling memoir. Being daddy’s girl didn’t shield her from much, and her life bore no resemblance to the Western image of a coddled “mafia princess.” Underneath her walking, talking, I-don’t-care exterior is someone who never knew love, security and stability.
Novel closes the generation gap
If ever there were a situation where the phrase “you can’t go home again” would apply, it would be in Many Ly’s second novel for young adults, “Roots and Wings.” Though the phrase should probably be altered to “you can go home again, but prepare to be reminded of why you left.”
Young singer the next big thing?
His keyboardist Mark Pellizzer plays a mix of chords on a synthesizer for the introduction to “Down in a Cold Dirty Well.” Soon, drummer Alex Tanas and bass player Anthony Lavdanski join in.
Growing Pains — Teacher matures along with her students
Author Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum knows how complicated growing up can be. Her first novel, National Book Award finalist “Madeleine is Sleeping,” explored the turbulent, often surreal world of adolescence. There, Bynum revealed the tragedy that can hide behind the physical or hormonal changes that put an end to childhood. Far too many of us want to stay children, want to stay unformed and unfocused as adults, escaping into a private void we mistakenly call “freedom.”
Cinderella gets X-rated Chinatown makeover
Having traveled alone to New York City, Ye Xian (An Nguyen) hopes to earn money to send home to her ailing father by working in a beauty salon run by Mrs. Su (Tsai Chin), her father’s distant cousin. But the bitter and manipulative Mrs. Su doesn’t actually run a beauty salon. She runs an X-rated massage parlor.
Life lessons through food
As expected of the wired Generation X-er I am, I Googled “Serve the People” to find out more about the book and the author. I was a little surprised; what I thought was a cleverly coined book title was actually a political slogan stemming from a speech Mao Zedong delivered on Sept. 8, 1944, in memory of a fellow Communist party member.
Deadpan Asian female actress looking for work
Novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo has a wonderfully deadpan sense of humor. This was evident in her previous book, “A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers,” which revealed, in the form of a glossary, a fraught-with-misunderstandings romance between an untutored Chinese peasant girl, who comes to London to study languages, and the bisexual British aesthete whom she meets at the movies. Likewise, Guo’s feature debut as a director, the meta-comedy “How is Your Fish Today?” was a gentle satire about a Beijing hipster trying to succeed as a screenwriter, despite having none of his scripts make it past government censors.
Seattle Artist makes dishware that won’t last
Diem Chau does not make art to last. Her embroidered chinaware is delicate and gauzy. Eventually the threads will disintegrate and the colors will fade. This is not by any defect of the materials, but rather in accordance with the artist’s intention to represent the ephemeral nature of memories.
Cage film has too much bang and little else
The Pang brothers turned in a credible grimy thriller with 1999’s original “Bangkok Dangerous.” Eight years later, only the brothers and the city remain the same. Western screenwriter Jason Richman took the Pangs’ original and pumped up the volume, the budget and the violence, losing most of the pathos in the stampede.